Umbro Industries: a word with our winners by Aaron› 1 Mar 2011

Yesterday we announced the results of the Winter Umbro Industries, with cultural listings website Manchester Wire and the University Of Salford's BA Hons Fashion department sharing the £10,000 prize. But what are they going to spend it on? We spoke to both winners to find out... Sally Donaldson, University of Salford How does it feel to have won? 'It’s been great to come back to the University and speak to people who knew that we were entering, and to tell them that we’ve won. We can keep on celebrating! We didn’t dare think that we could win, so it hasn’t really sunk in yet. Just the fact that a project, which could have such a big effect on the people involved, will now go ahead because of this is brilliant. We made the announcement to the students this morning, and they are absolutely overjoyed, and that’s what it’s all about. We’re creating something very special for them.' How do you feel your presentation went on Sunday? 'I think its odd because we felt it’d gone really well when we first came out, and then when we reflected on it we weren’t so sure! We felt that we answered all the questions and presented it all well, and felt that the panel responded well, but we were aware that there were three other groups there that were equally as passionate about their ideas.' What can you tell us about your project? 'We’re going to produce a really amazing digital film of a fashion show, but it won’t be like any other fashion film you’ll have seen before. It’s a film in a certain environment that you can become immersed in and experience like a live show. We’re hoping to have the event around the middle of June, so in the meantime we’ve got a lot of work to do!'

Ruth Allen and Chris Horkan, Manchester Wire How does it feel to have won? Ruth: 'We’re very excited about the fact that we’ve got £3,000, definitely! We weren’t sure how receptive the panel were going to be, because it’s not necessarily a new idea, but I think we’ve tried to make it relevant to 2011, so it’s really exciting that the judges were responsive to that.' How do you feel your presentation went? Chris: 'It went about as well as could be expected, I think the panel were quite knowledgeable about what we’re planning to do, so they had plenty of questions, but I think we answered them quite well.' Ruth: 'We were quite nervous but we practiced quite a lot beforehand! Because we were so into our idea, we were able to give it plenty of support and answer any questions, so afterwards we felt that we couldn’t have given a better presentation to be honest.' What’s your idea all about? Chris: 'It’s basically if you live in Manchester or you’re coming into Manchester on a given day or night and you’re not sure what to do, it’ll offer you suggestions that you’d maybe not thought about before. It gives people more ideas on what to do, especially underground stuff that’s not getting much coverage elsewhere in Manchester. It’s something that’s missing in Manchester at the moment.' What will the £3,000 allow you to do? Chris: 'It’ll help us in terms of going to other people and getting their attention, and I think it can get the website designed and built, and fund the first few months of the site going live. It’s really kickstarted the idea. We could potentially be up and running in a couple of months.' What do you think of Umbro Industries in general? Chris: 'It’s good that you can put up any idea, no matter how hair-brained, and the good stuff gets through. There’s fewer and fewer funding opportunities available, so it’s a great thing to have here in Manchester that other places don’t really have.' Congratulations again to both our winners. If you think you've got an idea that could do with some help from Umbro Industries, head over to the website now to find out more and upload your ideas.

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1350, Umbro