The Royal Opera House Design Challenge is not just any competition; it's a platform where dreams meet reality. Over 40 schools and colleges nationwide participate annually, presenting students with a rare opportunity to engage with live briefs and real clients. For East Sussex College students, it's a chance to shine on one of the world's most prestigious stages.

Phoebe Ociepka-Tearle, also an Art & Design Extended Diploma student, was highly commended in the Marketing Strategy & Design category for her highly imaginative poster and animation. Ryan Skeel was commended in the Marketing Strategy & Design pathway for his stunning poster and animation, while Sophie Fish, a Beauty and Make-Up student, was commended in the Hair, Wigs & Make-Up pathway for her wonderful work for the character ‘Papageno’.

Rae had to demonstrate imagination, an excellent understanding of the design process and the director’s vision, well presented concepts reflecting the ‘world’ of ‘The Barber of Seville’.

The three winners were joined by the 2020 winning candidate, Charlotte Dance, who was crowned the winner of the Set Design category with her piece themed around Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 masterpiece, La bohème. At the time of the 2020 awards, Charlotte studied Level 3 Art & Design at ESC Lewes. Charlotte had to wait an extra year to pick-up her well-deserved award!

The annual Design Challenge competition runs in the Autumn term and invites students from colleges and universities across the country to compete in four categories; Set Design, Costume Design, Hair, Wig and Make-up Design, and Marketing Strategy and Design.

James DiBiase, A-Level Art tutor, said, “Each year our students really look forward to entering the ROH Design Challenge. They’re given an opera or ballet to work on and a set of four Director’s visions, which they must use as project guidelines. All of the designs and productions are judged against how well they would work in the opera house.

This year’s winners and those identified at highly commended will exhibit their work as part of the Opera: Passion, Power and Politics exhibition at the V&A Museum on Friday 9th February 2018.

Trinity Bird - Royal Opera House Design Challenge Best Set Design

The annual Royal Opera House Design Challenge is somewhat a rite of passage for Creative students at East Sussex College in Lewes. The national competition, open to schools and colleges across the country, has seen East Sussex College students the recipients of its top awards since 2013.

Amy McGann, Head of National Programmes at Royal Opera House said, “The level of creativity from the young people across the country in this year's Design Challenge has been high. The judges - drawn from senior positions across our specialisms here at ROH – were impressed by the standards of the presentations on process and the professionalism of the final response.

Over 40 schools/colleges nationally participate in the Royal Opera House Design Challenge as it provides an incredible opportunity for students to engage with a ‘live’ brief, a real client, and create a design for the most prestigious stage in the country, if not the world. The College has a highly impressive track record of students winning or being awarded highly commended for their highly imaginative, creative responses and outcomes, with at least one winner for one of the five categories in the past ten years. 

Following the recent success of ESC students at the Royal Opera House Challenge 2022, it was another proud moment for one of the students on Lewes’ Filmmaking & Photography course - another reminder of the College’s outstanding creative prowess.

Students will hear if they have been successful in the Royal Opera House Design Challenge later this Spring. This will be the tenth consecutive competition the College has entered, and follows College success in all its previous years.

All 15 Winning, Highly Commended and Commended students have been invited to the Royal Opera House on 16 June 2025. As part of this experience, they’ll gain insight into careers in theatre design through hands-on time with production professionals, backstage tours, and Q&A sessions with makers and designers.

For the TENTH successive year, East Sussex College Lewes students celebrate success in the prestigious Royal Opera House Design Challenge. ESC student William Chan, aged 19 from Eastbourne, won the Set Design Award and was also chosen for the Director’s Choice Award. Itamar Burstein Lachman, aged 17 from Lewes, and George Bayly, aged 18 from Hassocks, were recognised as Highly Commended for poster and set design respectively.

The Art & Design students from East Sussex College will use the Artists & Makers Fair to raise funds for their Royal Opera House Challenge work to be displayed in the exhibition space at the Star Brewery Gallery, Lewes in February 2023. The Royal Opera House Challenge is a nationwide competition, giving students across the country the opportunity to design sets, costumes, hair, wigs and make-up, or develop a marketing campaign for an opera or ballet, selected by the Royal Opera House. The Royal Opera House Design Challenge 2023 is based on Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’. The students’ work will be exhibited locally at the Star Brewery Gallery, before making its way to London for the competition.

Fourteen Art & Design students from East Sussex College’s Lewes campus attended the Artists and Makers Fair in Lewes to raise funds for their Royal Opera House Challenge work to be displayed in the exhibition space at the Star Brewery Gallery in February 2023.

We have a great reputation for being a college of creative excellence. We have large creative workspaces, stacks of resources at our students’ disposal, and some of the finest tutors in the area. All this helps our students to excel in national competitions like the Royal Opera House Design Challenge. The students’ work has become so successful in this competition that it is now the ‘Gold Standard’ and used as inspiration for other colleges wishing to take part. Just before the lockdown, we were delighted to announce that Charlotte Dance won this year's best Set Design category.