2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 — The Scottish Gemmological Association

the Scottish Gemmological Association

GemSet 2026

CONTEXT OF THE 2026 COMPETITION

The Scottish Gemmological Association exists to promote and develop an interest in gemstones and gemmology education in Scotland. The Association offers a jewellery design competition specifically intended to encourage the use of gem materials in the work of students at all levels, full-time or part-time, in the jewellery and design departments of the Scottish Art Schools and Further Education Colleges.
Should students wish (see entry form), the SGA will provide gemstone/s which they may incorporate in their design, or they may use their own materials. The gemstones may be precious, semi-precious or of no monetary value at all.
Students are restricted to one entry per student, and only one piece of jewellery can be submitted by each student.
All pieces of jewellery being submitted to Gemset 2025 MUST NOT HAVE WON any other competition.

The Brief:
To design and make an item of wearable gem-set jewellery which emphasises/shows the gemstones off to their best.

Criteria for Judging:
The entries will be judged by a panel of jewellery and design professionals, and prizes will be warded according to the following criteria:
∙Emphasis on the attributes of the gemstone/s
∙Aesthetic design and creativity
∙Technical ability and quality of fabrication
∙Professional application of stone setting techniques
∙Wearability - All submissions should be wearable jewellery.

Prizes:

We will be awarding in four categories. These categories are:

Best Primarily Handmade - (Hand-built)
Best by Other Production Methods – (CAD, casted, etc.)
Best First Year – (First year creating jewellery)
The Alan Hodgkinson Award – (Scottish influence)

Winners will be selected by the panel of judges, and commendations may be awarded at the discretion of the judging panel.
Category winners shall EACH receive a £250 Marcus McCallum gemstone voucher.
All Prize Winners (category winners and commendations) shall also receive a complimentary one-year membership of the Scottish Gemmological Association.

Applications to Enter:

Closing date for entry registration is Friday, 14th November 2025
Applicants are required to register to enter the competition by Friday, 14th November 2025. You may register using the online form below with a payment of £10 via Direct Banking. Details are: The Scottish Gemmological Association, A/c No: 00202367, Sort Code: 83 26 02
Alternatively, an application form can be printed out and emailed to:
Sara Brown at gemset@scottishgemmology.org
Students who have registered, paid their entry fee and requested gemstones will receive gemstone/s, which will be posted out mid-December 2025.

Your Design:

The student should base the design of a jewellery item around one or more gemstones The student may use the gemstone/s provided by the SGA, or they may use their own
Any natural, synthetic or imitation gemstone/s may be used
The gemstone/s should be the focus of the student’s finished piece
The piece may otherwise be constructed from any precious or non-precious materials
which the student feels are appropriate
Students should bear in mind that the piece is to be wearable
The design should emphasise the attributes of the gemstone/s.

At the 2025 Conference, we introduced The Alan Hodgkinson Award in memory of our Honorary President. We are offering students this opportunity to design a wearable piece of jewellery with a Scottish influence. This could be the use of Scottish gemstones, or the design could be inspired by influences from our wonderful landscape, nature, history or even current affairs.

Should you enter Gemset 2026, you will be sent a Submission Form on which you will
be asked to state your methods of making, e.g. handmade, CAD, etc.
Entries can be entered into multiple categories, e.g. A first-year student who has
designed a necklace with a Scottish influence and then hand-built it. Can then enter for
Best First Year, Best Primarily Handmade and The Alan Hodgkinson Award.

Entries should be accompanied by a short explanation of the design/inspiration of the
piece submitted on the same submission form. This explanation will not form part of
the marking criteria but may assist the judging panel in understanding the design.
Your method of production MUST be stated, and the SUBMISSION FORM
enclosed with your entry.

Submission of Jewellery Work:
All submissions must be received by Friday, 27th March 2026. Entries may be posted to:
Posting details to be announced.
The judging panel will meet, and the jewellery will be returned within a short period of time, and the winners announced.

Awards Presentation:
A Presentation Ceremony and luncheon for the winners and their guests will take place at the Scottish Gemmological Association Annual Conference on Sunday, 3rd. May 2026 at the Glasgow Westerwood Hotel, near Cumbernauld.

GemSet 2026 Registration Form

Please fill in the details and hit the SUBMIT button. You will then receive an on screen acknowledgement.

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email

Address

Telephone No:

Name of College attended

Do you want to be sent complimentary gemstones

Yes

No

Please Note:

Images of competition entries may be used by the SGA in the promotion of the GemSet Jewellery Competition. By registering to enter this competition entrants are agreeing to abide by the rules and conditions of GemSet2026.

GemSet2025 winners

First Year Student:

Winner: Chi Meng Lao (Kelvin College)

Highly commended: Jiahui Shi (Edinburgh College of Art)

Highly commended: Kirstin Greenwell (Edinburgh College of Art)

Handmade:

Winner: Isobel Coles (Edinburgh College of Art)

Highly commended: Clark Rennie (Fife College)

Highly commended: Meg Barrett (Edinburgh College of Art)

Othe Methods of Production:

Winner: Stephanie McIntosh (Kelvin College)

Highly commended: Andrea Manning (Kelvin College)

The winners of our 2024 GemSet Jewellery Design Competition are:

1st Year Student:

Winner: Stephanie McIntosh (Kelvin)

Highly Commended: Anna Pieczonka (Fife)

Highly Commended: Clark Rennie (Fife)

Highly Commended: Gerald McKenna (Kelvin)

Handmade:

Winner: Jiahui Huang (ECA)

Highly Commended: Dong Ding (ECA)

Highly Commended: Dorota Bem (Duncan of Jordanstone)

Highly Commended: Samantha McKinnon (Kelvin)

Other Methods:

Winner: Roderick McGow (Kelvin)

Highly Commended: Ewan White (Kelvin)

Jewellery Design Competition 2023

This year’s GemSet Competition has finished and we were very happy with the number of students who entered pieces for consideration. The standard was very high and we are delighted to announce this year’s winners.

First Year Student

Winner - Isabel Coles, Edinburgh College of Art

Highly Commended – Eleanor Scott, Edinburgh College of Art

Highly Commended – Emily Parkin, Fife College

Primarily Handmade

Winner – Isabella Bedlington, Glasgow School of Art

Highly Commended – David Ding, Edinburgh College of Art

Highly Commended – Lynn Zhang, Edinburgh College of Art

Primarily Other Methods of Production

Winner – Claire Zimmerman, City of Glasgow College

Highly Commended – Barry Holleway, Glasgow Kelvin

Highly Commended – Kerri-lee Murray, Glasgow Kelvin

Highly Commended – Andrea McCarthy, Glasgow School of Art Continuing Education

Please Note:

Images of competition entries may be used by the SGA in the promotion of the GemSet Jewellery Competition. By registering to enter this competition entrants are agreeing to abide by the rules and conditions of GemSet2021.

GemSet 2022 - Jewellery Design Competition

The judging panel made the following awards:

Best First Year Student

Samuel Hey, City of Glasgow College

Best Primarily Handmade

Dong Ding, Edinburgh College of Art

Best Other Methods of Production

Edward Gallagher, Glasgow Kelvin College

SGA Gemset work placement / internship 2022

Sponsored by C. W. Sellors

Samantha Glen, Fife College

Highly Commended

(listed in no particular order)

Roderick McGow, Glasgow Kelvin College

Anne Richardson, City of Glasgow

Sanna Honeyman, Glasgow Kelvin College

Andrea McCarthy, Glasgow School of Art Continuing Education

Congratulations to all students who entered.

SGA GemSet Competition Awards, 2020 and 2021

Due to Covid, although we have still run our GemSet Competition for Scottish jewellery students, we were unable to run our annual Conference and make awards in person to the winning students.

Consequently, it was decided to commission a short video presentation to highlight the winning pieces from 2020 and 2021. We hope you enjoy it!

If asked for a password please input SGA.