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Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW) is accepting applications for the Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) & Young Designer (YD) of the Year Awards 2013. The YCE awards programme is unique in that it rewards the talent and initiative of young creative entrepreneurs from across the creative fashion industry recognizing the central role they play in the development of a competitive and sustainable creative economy. One of the key objectives of the YCE programme is to sensitise the UK creative sector to the opportunities that come from working with other creative entrepreneurs in emerging economies. A second objective is to better understand the dynamics of being an entrepreneur in the creative economy. British Council and LFDW have recognized the need to identify such talents and provide them with the right networking abilities to further expose their business to the much needed prominence and simultaneously grow the Nigerian fashion industry. The winner of the Fashion award will be invited to take part in a tour of the industry in the UK. The Tour is anticipated to take place in September 2013. With the Young Designer of the Year award, LFDW offers young fashion designers the opportunity to be participants at targeted seminars and workshops facilitated by British Council and a chance to exhibit their collection in front of a select audience at the Lagos Fashion and Design Week. LFDW’s aim is to promote and nurture the talents of today’s young, creative innovators, so that tomorrow’s creative industries can continue to play a major role in the economy of Nigeria and the rest of the world; and to provide young talents with a platform for their ideas and designs. LFDW normally chooses between 10 – 12 young designers who are trained in Master Classes by British Council for a week to enhance their design skills towards their competition during Lagos Fashion & Design Week, where one designer will be crowned the winner. Past winners include Isoken Ogiemwonyi (CO – CEO of Retail Store, L’Espace) for the Young Creative Entrepreneur Award and Josh Samuels for Young Designer of the Year Award. The screening sessions for the awards will kick off in Port Harcourt on the 26th of August, Abuja on the 28th of August and end in Lagos on the 30th of August. To enter visit LagosFashionAndDesignWeek.com for more details; prizes for the winners include:

A LFDW Young Designer of The Year cash prize from MTN.
British Council facilitated networking opportunities with creative entrepreneurs globally at London Fashion Week.
British Council facilitated Master classes  Mentorship opportunities with leaders in the creative industry.
Retail opportunities with leading brands in the industry.

LFDW is scheduled to take place from October 23rd to 26th 2013.