Architecture Writing Competition
An original essay on architecture, cities or the built environment, in your own words and your own voice.
- Prize
- ₹50,000
- Entry, India
- ₹1,000
- Entry, outside India
- US$50
- Dates
- Announced soon
Dates and the entry form will be announced here.
The brief
Architecture is argued about far less than it is built. This competition asks you to write: to look closely at a building, a street, a city or an idea, and say something about it that hasn't been said in quite that way before.
Write about what you know first-hand. A housing colony you grew up in, a market that works better than any plan for it, a building everyone praises that you think fails, a craft that is disappearing, a rule that shapes every building in your city without anyone noticing. Essays rooted in a real place and a real observation tend to be the strongest.
Originality will be rewarded above everything else. We want your thinking and your voice, not a summary of what others have already written. Quote and cite where you lean on others, and then go further.
Use of AI to write or draft the essay will reduce your score. Spelling and grammar checkers are fine; anything that writes sentences for you is not. Every entrant signs a short declaration about how the essay was written, and the jury may ask for drafts or notes.
Who can enter
Open to everyone: students, architects, designers and anyone who writes about the built world.
What to submit
- An essay of 1,500 to 2,500 words in English, as a PDF or Word file.
- A title and a one-paragraph summary (up to 100 words).
- Up to 3 images or sketches, if they help the argument (optional; your own, or credited).
- A signed declaration of originality, including whether and how any AI tool was used.
- No name on the essay itself: judging is anonymous.
How entries are judged
| Originality of the idea and the observation behind it | 35% |
| Strength of the argument | 25% |
| Quality of the writing: clarity, voice, structure | 25% |
| Insight into architecture and the built environment | 15% |
| AI-written or AI-drafted text | points deducted |
Rules
- One essay per person, unpublished at the time of entry.
- The essay must be your own work. Plagiarism disqualifies an entry.
- Use of AI to generate or draft text reduces the score; undeclared AI use can disqualify an entry.
- You keep the rights to your essay. By entering you allow Design IRL to publish winning and shortlisted essays, credited to you.
- Entry fees are not refundable.
Fees
₹1,000 for entrants in India, US$50 for entrants outside India. The ₹50,000 prize goes to the winning entry.