23-year-old Matej Čička's concept ("Track of Winners") will feature on the medals to be awarded in Nanjing, China in August 2014, at the second edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games.
A young student and sports fan from Slovakia just won the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Medal Design Competition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today.
An IOC jury chose Matej Čička's concept ("Track of Winners") from a pool of over 300 entries from 50 plus countries, describing it as "modern, fresh and dynamic".
"It was our school task to join this competition and design a medal," the 23-year-old of Slovakia said. "I was inspired by the athletes’ track which, to me, means the base of the Youth Olympic Games".
Thomas Heatherwick (the English designer behind the Olympic cauldron at London 2012) was in the judging panel, which also included Youth Olympic Games Ambassador Yelena Isinbaeva and other sports personalities.
Second and third place were respectively taken by 29-year-old of Spain Hugo Fernández ("A Hug From Lele!" was the name of his design) and Csaba Szitas, 28, from Slovakia ("Stripes of Victory").
The competition had started in September, giving creative people worldwide the chance to design the Youth Olympic Games medals, to be awarded in Nanjing, China from 16 to 28 August 2014, when the event (featuring a a 6-event Shooting program) will take place.
Matej Čička's first prize also includes a trip to the Games, tickets to the Opening Ceremony and a full collection of the medals featuring their design.
An accurate analysis of the winning concepts, as well as a gallery of the other designs who took part in the contest, can be found at the official website of the competition.