Judges

Emma England, Regional Director RIBA Yorkshire

Emma has been director of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Yorkshire region since 2002.

Having originally studied Architecture History at university, Emma’s work now deals mainly with contemporary design issues. Emma began her career working in marketing and PR for the prestigious Richard Rogers Partnership in London, followed by a similar role at the Architecture Foundation before moving back home to Yorkshire.

Through their work, RIBA Yorkshire aims to raise the profile of architects and architecture in the region and currently has over 2000 members. Emma is passionate about promoting the benefits of good design within the built environment and one of the key functions of the RIBA is to campaign for better design quality in developments and contemporary building.

At RIBA Yorkshire, Emma is responsible for organising a number of initiatives and events including the 4x4 Regeneration Forum, the White Rose Architecture Awards, exhibitions and Architecture Week. For more information on this and other RIBA services go to www.architecture.com

Emma is also a member of Concourse, the Leeds centre for art, architecture, construction, landscape, planning & urban design.

Robert Ray – Marketing Director, The Newspaper Society - UK

Robert is Marketing Director for the NS, based in London. The NS represents publishers across the £3bn UK regional press marketplace (2nd largest medium in the UK) which includes over 1300 newspapers, 800+ websites, 600+ niche magazines and a multitude of other local/community communication channels. His team are concerned with developing advertising from national brands/agencies with a clear demonstration of the depth/breadth and effectiveness of the medium. The research and insight work of the NS can be seen at www.thewantedads.co.uk.

Prior to the NS Robert ran a communications consultancy, working within the media/advertising sector focused on business development strategy at an organisational level for both UK and overseas companies. Before breaking out on his own, Robert spent 2000-2003 as MD of Starcom Worldwide heading communications strategy for Publicis Groupe on P&G across EMEA. From the mid-90’s he was joint MD of MediaVest UK and prior to this held various agency posts in the UK.

Dr Rachael Unsworth is a lecturer at the University of Leeds School of Geography.

Dr Unsworth is a respected academic and author of Twenty-first century Leeds: geographies of a regional city.

Her research interests focus on urban environments and landscapes, with particular interest in the role of urban planning, urban management and property markets and their relationship to social, economic, technological and political change, changing approaches to the management of urban environments, and ethnic minorities in British cities.

Sharon Dale started her career in journalism 21 years ago and has worked for the Yorkshire Post for the past ten years.

Sharon's background is in news and features and she now specialises in property and interiors.

She says: "Property is a great subject to write about as it embraces so many interesting aspects. It's about architecture and design, investment, history, renovation, aspirations and most of all our basic need for a shelter.

"It's also about location and in Yorkshire we've got everything from vibrant cities to beautiful countryside and coastal towns and villages."