For over 50 years, the RIBA Awards and prizes have championed and celebrated the best architecture in the UK and around the world. Award-winning projects proudly demonstrate advancements and innovations in architecture, but at their core they display a commitment to designing and developing buildings and spaces that enhance people’s everyday lives.
Viewed globally as the gold-standard in architectural awards, with an unrivalled approach to rigorous judging, I am pleased to share that, following detailed consultations, the RIBA Awards Group have developed several key updates to the entry process which will serve to further their rigour.
Entry deadline
Whilst in previous years the deadline for members to enter their projects was in February, this has now been brought forward to December.
This is to allow more time for thorough checks of submissions and liaison with entrants prior to the regional shortlisting meetings, ensuring all the necessary information has been supplied and is accurate at the earliest stage possible.
Please note, 17.00 on 13 January is the deadline for entries.
Project eligibility
To be eligible for an award, all projects entered, must now have been in use for at least one year – a change that RIAS has also made to their entry process. This means that for the 2022 Awards, the project must have been completed between October 2018 and December 2020 and occupied by 31 December 2020 (one year before entries to the 2022 Awards close).
An important change, this means jury members will be visiting and judging buildings that have already been tested by their users for a year – ensuring they can consider thorough client feedback and, depending on project, real in-use energy performance data when judging.
Project sustainability
Sustainability is at the heart of good design. In recognition of this, RIBA has developed the 2030 Climate Challenge – a series of targets for Chartered Practices to help architects meet net zero (or better) whole life carbon for new and retrofitted buildings by 2030.
Increasingly, we’ll be using these targets to define the standards expected of RIBA Award-winning projects. For the 2022 entry process – we've worked to clarify and simplify the form whilst ensuring we capture all necessary information so that we can rigorously judge each building.
Beyond regulatory compliance, all projects are expected to target more sustainable outcomes and encouraged to measure how they perform in use. We will be asking for different levels of information depending on the size of your project and we ask that all entrants complete as many questions as possible.
A few final house-keeping reminders:
- Early-bird entry, with reduced entry fees (variable depending on project size) remains open until 23.59 on 18 November. Prices are listed on the Entry Guidelines webpage. The final entry deadline is 13 January 2022.
- The deadline to apply for membership to enter this year’s awards is 14 November. If you think your practice may not receive your membership in time for the early bird rate entry fee, please email awards@riba.org to let us know in advance.
- Previously unsuccessful projects can re-enter if they still meet the eligibility criteria.
- There is one entry system for the UK Awards – should your project be eligible for any of the Special Awards, at both the Regional and National level, there will be the opportunity to opt in for these in the entrance form.
So, with all that being said – I encourage all members who can, to enter their projects for consideration! The programme is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate your professional achievements and contributions to society. I wish the very best of luck to all who enter.
