BC's Best Young Designer competition in the Vancouver Sun:

What the young have done

Bold is not cold in this Morgan Crossing home decorated and furnished by a young designer, Jennifer Scott of Vancouver. Six Morgan Crossing homes decorated and furnished by the finalists in a young-designer competition, organized by the developer of the new-home community in south Surrey, now are open to the public. One of them is the home shown here. The competition's grand prize is an all-expenses- paid trip to New York City and a pass to the Architectural Digest Home Design Show. The fan favourite prize is $2,000 cash.

The six finalists were chosen by a panel of judges from video entries. (Only B.C. residents 30 years old or younger could enter the competition.)

The judges are: Kari Henshaw, Insight Design Group; Sarah Bancroft, editor-in- chief of Vitamin Daily, and Matthew Budgeon, film and television production designer.

The other five finalists are: Britt McMaster, Vancouver; Joanna Kado, Burnaby; Daniel Meloche, Vancouver; Penelope Sloan, Vancouver, and Karen Wong, Richmond.

The winners of the judges' prize and the public's prize will be announced Feb. 28. Check out bestyoungdesigner.com to learn more.

The six finalist in Morgan Crossing's BC's Best Young Designer competition have finished their entries. I've just come from a sneak preview of the suites where I was blown away by what these up-and-coming designers have accomplished.

The competitors had five weeks and a $10,000-$12,000 budget (depending on the size of the suite) to completely furnish and decorate a suite in the Morgan Crossing Village. A panel of judges will award one overall winner an all expenses paid trip to New York City to attend the Architectural Digest Interior Design Show. A fan favourite (chosen by the public) will win $2,000.

The suites are open to the public for viewing from 12pm-5pm every day except Friday until February 20th. Visit the Morgan Crossing Presentation Centre to vote for your favourite.

Photos from each of the designers are below, and you can learn more about the competition here: http://www.bestyoungdesigner.com/

And to get a sense of what these young designers have accomplished, here is a "before" shot of one of the suites:

(All images are available for media use.)

Jennifer Scott designed suite 451 at Morgan Crossing. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Design from Ryerson University, a minor in Business Communications, and a diploma in Fashion Merchandising. She currently is part owner of A Good Chick to Know Design Consultation where she works with clients on both wardrobe and interior design.

Joanna Kado designed suite 461 at Morgan Crossing. Joanna completed her Interior Design Certificate at BCIT and also holds a certificate in Architectural Drafting from University of the Fraser Valley.

Daniel Meloche designed suite 452 at Morgan Crossing. Daniel is a graduate from the Art Institute of Vancouver and has two in half years experience working as an Interior Designer and Project Coordinator for Northland Properties.

Karen Wong designed suite 459 at Morgan Crossing. Karen is a LEED Green Associate specializing in restaurant and hotel design and works as an interior designer for a Vancouver hospitality group. She works on a variety of projects including both new builds and renovations all over Canada.

Britt McMaster designed suite 455 at Morgan Crossing. Britt currently works within the marketing team at Theory Design and features her design projects via her blog, Cucumbersome.

Penelope Sloan designed suite 460 at Morgan Crossing. Penelope was raised in a very creative environment so design has always been her passion. Currently living in East Vancouver on the lively and multicultural Commercial Drive, Penelope believes that design starts with a mood or feeling in mind.

Central 1 Credit Union today announced the results of a province-wide campaign that challenged young adults to Be Remarkable by helping to distribute $100,000 to local charities. The initiative, led by Central 1 on behalf of British Columbia’s 45 credit unions, used the popular social networking site Facebook as the mechanism to allocate and distribute the funds. Sixteen regions in BC were each represented by a photo album on the Be Remarkable Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/beremarkable). Each time a Facebook user tagged themselves or a friend in photos of their community or town, BC’s credit unions donated $1 to a local charity.  Thirty-two charities were eligible to receive the funds; each one is focused on issues important to young adults such as sports, culture, education, health, and the environment.

“Social media was a great tool to help us build awareness. Through this campaign we wanted to demonstrate the values that set the credit union system apart from other financial institutions,” said Martin Reed, Director, Marketing & Creative Services, Central 1. “By harnessing a little regional pride online, young people were able to support local causes that are important to them.”

Vancouver Island led the province in the number of tags. The top four regions were:

1. Vancouver Island: Victoria READ Society ($7,845) and Vancouver Island School of Arts Society ($7,845);
2. Thompson Okanagan: Youth Employment Services (YES) - Okanagan Boys & Girls Clubs ($6,295) and Thompson Rivers University Foundation ($6,295);
3. Northern BC: Northern Lights Wildlife Society ($5,150) and University of Northern British Columbia ($5,150);
4. Kootenay/Rockies: Friends Of West Kootenay Parks Society ($3,970) and Variety Club Kootenay/Rockies ($3,970).

In late September, several communities in BC declared a state of emergency due to severe flooding. To show support for fellow British Columbians in crisis, two additional disaster relief charities were included in the campaign. As a result, funds were allocated to the Canadian Red Cross BC Floods Response ($8,360) and Salvation Army Mt. Waddington Disaster Relief Fund ($6,450).

This past Sunday, the North Shore News ran a great article on the Books for BC Babies program and why it's so important to the early development of children. Read the full story here. by Layne Christensen

Vancouver media were treated a preview of Chris Mills' James Beard House menu last Thursday. The Joey Executive Chef will be heading to the venerable culinary institution on November 20th to cook for 80 of North America's most discerning palates. In Vancouver, more than 50 media dined on Mills' 5-course extravaganza of flavour. The 45 Day-Aged Rib Eye was Elettra's favourite:

Guests enjoyed wines with each course, selected by JOEY Sommelier, Dustin Dockendorf:

Chef Chris Mills' James Beard House Menu...