Life changing decisions

One thing I can report from the judging, however, were the remarks offered by last year's winner of the Design Engineer of the Year award and Grand Prix Sebastien Cuvelier Mussalien. At the end of the judging, Sebastien, whose work on the OrganOx organ preservation system won him the awards, addressed those judges who had been present last year to thank them for their decision and to remind us all that the decisions we made in those few hours were not only important, but had the power to change people's lives. He then went on to explain that winning the accolades had given him the courage and confidence to give up his role with?Team Consulting and set up his own business. It was not only a touching moment, but also a valuable reminder to us – if such a thing were needed – that our work on the BEEAs does not exist in isolation, but has a very real meaning for and impact on the people whose work we celebrate. The other wonderful thing about Sebastien's remarks was that they constituted a vindication of everything the BEEAs have ever purported to represent. The Awards begain at a time of economic downturn amidst a need to rebalance the economy.?Their raison d'etre was to celebrate those achievements of British engineering that have spent so many years being undervalued. Equally, they offered an opportunity to raise the profile of a profession that is all too often ignored or misunderstood. For a winner to offer proof that the BEEAs had changed his outlook and career in such a positive way was extremely gratifying from our point of view as organisers and judges. It also served to remind us that, on 9th October, a lot of other engineers' lives will change for the better. This fact that not only reminds us of our great responsibility as judges, but also serves to make us very proud of the awards themselves.