Durban University of Technology fashion design students swept the boards at the regional Vodacom Durban Young Designer Awards held at the Greyville Racecourse on Wednesday.

Over 110 outfits from design students across the province vied for the attention of the judging panel.

Out of the 20 selected designs short-listed, 16 of them were of students from DUT, while two were from Linea Academy and Pietermaritzburg School of Fashion.

These designs are now on the way to battle it out at the regions' judging in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Gauteng and in Bloemfontein next month.

At the end of an exhausting judging session, the panel of SA Fashion Week convener Lucilla Booysen, Durban designer Leigh Schubert, fashion programme director Tiffany Prior, fashion stalwart Derrick Mhlongo and Gold Circle's Monica Holman were happy to take time to interact with the design students and to offer them advice on their creative process and technical execution.

The overall winner of the competition will receive a R10000 cash prize from Vodacom, a trip to the 2011 London Graduate Fashion Week and a piece of jewellery from Mark Gold Jewels worth R30000.