Meet the 2025 winners
Tata on People Awards win: "A huge sense of pride and momentum"
Tata's David Houston reflects on his team's win from the 2025 People Awards
In many ways the Unsung Hero category best reflects the spirit of the People Awards, recognising those behind the scenes who might otherwise go under the radar for their efforts towards a project.
At the 2025 event, the shortlist for this category included a raft of big names and was hotly contested. After careful deliberation, the jury deemed Tata Motors' visualisation team worthy of the win. Collecting the trophy on stage was David Houston, visualisation manager at Tata Motors Design Tech Centre.
Speaking to Car Design News this month, he reflects that it "meant a great deal to the team because it recognised the effort, creativity, and collaboration that often goes unseen behind the final product."
In the months that have followed, he notes that this recognition has "helped increase awareness of our work both within the company and across the wider industry, leading to new conversations and connections with other professionals in the field. More than anything, the award has given the team a huge sense of pride and momentum, reinforcing the importance of what we do and the contribution visualisation makes to the automotive design process."
Houston took a slightly unconventional route into the world of car design, specialising initially in architecture but recognising a crossover in skills that would eventually lead to a senior position at Tata's Coventry design studio.
"Moving into automotive has been a significant learning curve," he explains, "but also an incredibly rewarding experience." In a nod to his wider team and those that brought him on board — something very much in the spirit of the People Awards — Houston appreciates the trust shown in him early doors.
"In many ways it was a leap of faith from Tata to bring me into the team from a non-traditional background, however I think that alternative experience has helped bring a different perspective to our workflows, pipelines, and creative problem solving," he says.
"A large part of that has also been the creative freedom and support provided by Martin and Aure, both to myself and the wider team, which has allowed us to explore alternative approaches and continue evolving the visualisation process."
The 2026 People Awards is now in its fifth year and is open for entries. Celebrate the teams and individuals behind the product with our easy-to-use online portal. Join your colleagues, heroes and potential partners by booking a table here.
