Internal/External Competitions

Architecture & Film Symposium is a biennial event that engages the liminal condition between the built environment and the filmic space. It investigates the architectural quality of films and the cinematic structure of spatial experience. Apart from architecture informing scenography and cities serving as backdrops to moving images, film discourses have actively shaped and critiqued the built environment. And while architecture and design may not necessarily be central themes in a film, their latent influences inform cinematic processes of thinking and making.

The symposium adopts cinematic representations of the built environment as a cultural lens for interdisciplinary theoretical debate. It exploits the filmic capacity to produce virtual spatial experiences as design experimentation.

Every two years, scholars from architecture, interior design, urban design, landscape architecture, film studies, animation, production design, cultural studies, set design, etc. come together to discuss the year’s theme and the following broader provocations:

• How do films construct historical and cultural narratives of space?
• How does architecture enable, facilitate, empower, and challenge the cinematic narrative?
• How do films represent, filter, manipulate, and alter our perception of the built environment’s past, present, and future?
• How do films provoke design innovation and vice versa?
• How do cinematic narratives featuring artists, architects, and designers inform/misinform public understanding of the creative disciplines?

The Canadian Academy of Architecture for Justice (CAAJ) invites architecture students to speculate on issues in their annaul design competition. Submissions are welcomed from either studio groups or individuals. The design will be evaluated by a jury of experts, architects and industry professionals. Participants are highly encouraged to explore a wide spectrum of architectural responses from functional and practical at one end to philosophical and social at the other, including ways in which this building or complex could be integrated into the surrounding context and community, act as a catalyst for building a positive relationship between two nations, and address what a border entry means in today’s context.

More information and registration on the CAAJ website.

Prix de Rome in Architecture - Emerging Practitioners

The Canada Council Prix de Rome in Architecture – Emerging Practitioners is awarded to a recent graduate of a Canadian school of architecture who demonstrates exceptional potential in contemporary architectural design.

The prize recipient will have the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of contemporary architecture culture by visiting a selection of works of architecture abroad, and to expand their professional skills through an internship of their choosing at an international architectural firm.

Prize amount – $34,000

Eligibility
To apply for this prize, you must:

• be a Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status, as defined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. You do not need to be living in Canada when you apply.
• have received a professional bachelor’s or master’s degree from a Canadian school of architecture that is certified by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board, in the 36 months before the application deadline.
• be recommended by the director of the school of architecture that issued the degree.

J.B.C. Watkins Award: Architecture

As part of a bequest from the estate of the late John B.C. Watkins, this award provides fellowships of $5,000 to Canadian architects who are pursuing graduate studies in any country other than Canada, and who are graduates of a Canadian university, postsecondary art institution or training school. Postgraduate schools include postsecondary institutions or training schools, whether or not these are degree-granting institutions.

Priority will be given to applicants wishing to carry out their studies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Iceland.

Prize amount – $5,000

Eligibility 
To be eligible, you must be:

• an architecture graduate with a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a Canadian university, postsecondary art institution or training school
• a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, as defined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
• pursuing graduate studies in a country other than Canada.

You do not need to be living in Canada when you apply.

Application limits – you can apply once per year
You may receive a maximum of 2 J.B.C. Watkins Awards in your lifetime. You cannot apply to this award for a program of graduate studies that has already been completed before the program deadline.
Notification of results – approximately 5 months after the deadline date

Each year, the Canadian Architecture Student Association (CASA-ACÉA) celebrates the excellence of our Canadian architecture students who have continued to design over the past year.

Eligible participants must be a current student or recent graduate* of an accredited Canadian school of architecture. Projects must be completed as part of school curricula and be the original work of the student(s). Individual and group work is accepted, provided all group members are clearly stated. Only one submission will be accepted per group or individual. 

Visit the CASA-ACÉA website for competition details and to apply.

Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) Grand Valley and Toronto Chapters are delighted to once again offer Ontario students of post-secondary architectural and interior design programs, the opportunity to participate in the Annual Student Design Challenge.

Complete contest requirements, details, updates and pertinent links are posted on the Student Design Challenge website.

EDRA welcomes submissions from the full breadth of environmental design and related research activities, including architecture, landscape architecture, planning, urban design, interior design, lighting design, graphic design, place-based public art, environmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography, and the physical sciences.

Visit EDRA for award and submission details.

IC-IMPACTS (the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability) is the first, and only, Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence established through the Canadian Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) as a Centre dedicated to the development of research collaborations between Canada and India. Built upon the vision of three of Canada’s leading research universities – The University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and the University of Toronto – IC-IMPACTS is a pan-Canadian and pan-Indian Centre bringing together researchers, industry leaders, community members and government agencies to work hand-in-hand to find solutions to the key challenges that affect the quality of life of millions of people in Indian and Canadian communities.

View current calls for proposals.

This award is offered to a Canadian architectural student who wishes to pursue postgraduate studies outside Canada, ideally in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, or Iceland.

Visit the Canada Council of the Arts website for award details.

The fund was set in 1956 in the memory of AA alumnus Michael Ventris who became world famous for deciphering the ancient Greek script of Linear B. Anyone from the field of architecture is eligible to apply (applicants may have a first degree in architecture or a subject related to project, and the award is open to applicants from all countries). The award is intended to support an independent project rather than a continuing programme of study.

This year, the award will present £5000 to support an independent project with a clear outcome. The creators contribution to the field should be an original endeavour in the field of architecture/archaeology reflecting the genius of Ventris in both disciplines.

Full details online.

The Student Ideas Competition is organized by the NCC and has been a part of the annual Urbanism Lab lecture series since 2019. Through this competition, the NCC invites students to think of design concepts for sites in Canada’s National Capital Region. 

The competition is open to students enrolled in an accredited educational institution in Canada. The NCC encourages students to form interdisciplinary teams to consider all aspects of urban planning, site design, architecture and landscape design.

Visit the Urbanism Lab for more information.

The Student Projects category is open to students that attend universities offering degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and industrial design. The criteria for student projects are any theoretical or studio project that specifically relates to Ottawa.

Submission details.

The student category is administered through participating Canadian Universities. Submissions may also be made directly from a student enrolled in an accredited program in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban planning, in the past two years. Each school or individual student may forward submissions in the following categories:

• A submission from a studio with an emphasis on urban design;
• A submission as a result of a final project or an individual thesis.

Full information is on the RAIC website.

SARA NY Council celebrates excellence in architecture and design through our Design Awards, which attracts entries from around the world from individuals, firms, and students of architecture and allied disciplines.

Awards are granted for a wide range of categories and project types, and all entrants will be invited to attend the awards ceremony held in New York, New York.

SARA NY Design Awards offer awards of Merit, Honor, and Excellence. Submission is open globally. This year SARA NY will be offering a student scholarship of $5000 to an outstanding student project; additional submission requirements are required to be considered.

Visit SARA NY for complete information and to submit.

The Sustainable Buildings Network (SBN) a student-run network at the University of Toronto. An annual event that they host is the Sustainable Buildings Challenge (SBC). The SBC is a competition in which teams compete against each other to design innovative solutions that improve the sustainability and occupant comfort of a building.