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The goal of the BDI awards is to raise awareness of "the importance and value of outstanding environmental/product design in the West Midlands."
Tongue said: "I entered my cycle in the transport category of the awards. It was then
shortlisted to the final three and I was invited to the awards ceremony at the Think Tank Centre at Millennium Point.
"I was delighted to come second, particularly because I was up against tough competition from industry. Many of the shortlisted candidates were established designers and professional organisations including Wedgewood."
Tongue’s bike was designed during his final-year project for the MDes Industrial Product Design course at Coventry University. Pashley advised on production aspects of the project.
The full-size mock-up of the bike was displayed at the University’s Degree Show in June 2002 and caught the eye of Museum of British Road Transport Exhibition Officer, Paul Maddocks. The bicycle is now one of the features of its permanent display, which aims to show the continuing history of transport.
Tongue was also awarded the Bugatti Trust prize and won a national award from the Institute of Engineering Designers, who give out ten awards each year to the best final-year design projects.
Mike Evatt, Tongue’s principal lecturer at Coventry University, believes Tongue has a bright future ahead of him:
"With this list of accolades so early in his career I can see Matt becoming one of the UK’s most promising young designers."
