TWENTY-FIVE years ago: THE Governor, Sir David Trench, gave the thumbs-up to a Governor's Award for Hong Kong Design - and agreed to be the chief judge in that year's competition.
The idea was the brainchild of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI), which also announced five other annual prizes to be known as the FHKI Awards for Good Design. According to federation chairman Sze-yuen Chung, the Governor's Award would only be made if a truly worthy product was found which would bring acclaim to Hong Kong design.
In addition to being fully designed in Hong Kong, products eligible for the award needed to be three-dimensional, in current volume production, and from a factory registered here.
''Hong Kong industry owes much in its development to the personal interest taken by His Excellency and to actions he has initiated from time to time to further this aspect of our community life,'' Mr Chung, who was later conferred a knighthood, said. ''His interest is a challenge to Hong Kong industry to do better.'' THE Hong Kong Baptist College was seeking government recognition of its courses to enable students to compete for positions generally open only to university graduates.
College vice-president M. J. Anderson said more than 2,000 students a year were enrolled at his institute compared to 1,300 at both Hong Kong and Chinese universities.
Institutions in Canada and the United States recognised the Baptist College diploma for advanced study courses, Mr Anderson said. He added that Baptist College hoped to gain recognition through the Post Secondary College's Ordinance which was originally drafted for United And New Asia Colleges.