Behind the scenes: CDN People Awards global live judging 

This year the People Awards team had the honour of holding the first round of live judging at Tata Motors' design studio in Coventry, UK. 

Tata's global head of design Martin Uhlarik was our host for the day and noted that the quality of entries this year was "extremely high to the point where it's difficult to find something that's not outstanding." European head of design Aurelien Doisy agreed that "it is a real challenge" to narrow down the final winners. 

Reflecting the spirit of the global judging day, our jury was truly from all over. Designers joined from China, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK, assembling an exceptional group of design leaders from Tata, Lotus, Xiaomi, Kia, Italdesign, Contechs, Xpeng, Uedelhoven Studios, Opel, Changan, Afry, Renault, Mahindra, Bentley and Hyundai. 

Uhlarik and the wider Tata team put on a superb spread over lunch with a contemporary Indian twist that went down very well, particularly for those who had travelled from far and wide to be there. The next stage of the in-person judging process will come in Detroit as we are hosted by Ford Motor Company later in October. 

Want to get involved in the People Awards? To reserve a table at the main event where the winners will be announced on 4 December, visit: https://lnkd.in/einkc3uP

Full list of global judges in attendance at Tata Motors:

Martin Uhlarik; Aurelien Doisy; Ben Payne; Jean-Arthur Madelaine-Advenier; Jeongbin Moon; Joaquin Garcia; JuanMa López; Jürgen Uedelhoven; Marc Brumpton; Mark Adams; Alexis Martot; Pratap Bose; Robert Dolton; T. Jon Mayer; Klaus Zyciora; Raphael Bretecher.