20 winners of the Tahitian Pearl Trophy jewellery design competition were announced in Paris on October 8^th 2000 during Fashion week in the French capital.

The 20 winners were chosen from 83 finalists from a total of 17 nations and from 10 design categories. An international panel of 11 judges chosen by Perles de Tahiti, the Papeete based trade association that organised the first worldwide competition devoted exclusively to Tahitian pearl jewellery, chose the winners on June 19 in Tahiti. The 20 winners were divided up into two groups: Ten category winners were; necklace, earrings, ring brooch, pendent, parure (set), bracelet, design, accessory and special prize. The other ten winners involved special prizes offered by a variety of sponsors amongst which are Tahiti television, Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, French newspaper Le Figaro and Italain magazine Vogue Gioiello. UK Jewellers Boodle and Dunthorne won a special prize in the pendant category, and celebrity jeweller Stephen Webster from the United Kingdom won a special prize in the parure (set) category.

The Tahitian Pearl Trophy Grande Finale awards ceremony was held at Le Printemps Haussmann in Paris. A special hall was used for the ceremony, featuring a combined atmosphere of Tahiti & Her Islands and Tahitian pearl jewellery. One of the highlights of the entertainment was a live presentation of the new Tahitian pearl jewellery collections from some of the biggest names in fine jewellery from Paris’ famous Place Vendome, dressed by the finest Fashion houses.

Models posed as statues through the hall as they presented new Tahitian pearl jewellery creations by several fine jewellers. Some 350 persons attended the ceremony including media from France and other countries. During the ceremony a book published by Perles de Tahiti was distributed. ‘The 100 Best’, presenting the 20 international and 80 national Tahitian Pearl Trophy winning pieces.

The 83 finalists came from the four corners of the world – Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North and South America. The list of finalists stemmed from individual national competitions held in 17 countries.

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