The Omrania | CSBE Student Award for Architectural Design
2019 Twelfth Cycle Announcement

View the 2019 Twelfth Announcement Poster.

Introduction
Omrania and Associates (O&A) and the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) are happy to announce the 2019 twelfth cycle of the Omrania l CSBE Student Award for Architectural Design.

The Award is intended to honor distinguished architectural graduation projects by students from universities throughout the Arab World.

Eligibility
Students who have completed their Bachelor's degree in architecture or architectural engineering during the 2018 – 2019 academic year from universities in countries belonging to the Arab League are eligible to submit their architectural graduation projects for the Award.

The Award’s total prize money is USD 10,000. It will be at the discretion of the Award jury to decide on the number of winners and on the distribution of the prize money among them. For the 2018 Award cycle, the Award jury selected one first-place winner and two honorable mentions amongst whom the prize money was distributed.

Registration
All participants may register online through the Award website (www.omraniacsbeaward.org) by creating an account with a user name and password, and filling and completing the online Submission Form. The Submission Form will be made available online for participants on July 07, 2019.

Submissions
Submissions must consist of the student’s submission for the final year graduation project. No additional work may be done to the project except for re-formatting it to match the following required specifications.

Submissions must consist of:
- Abstract of no more than 100 words
All participants must provide a clear and concise statement in Arabic or English of no more than 100 words describing their project. The statement may be adapted from a text already developed for the graduation project. Abstracts that exceed 100 words in length will not be accepted.

-One digital portrait sheet (file format: JPG; sheet Size: A2 (420 x 594 mm); file resolution: 150 dpi; file size: under 10MB)

No additional sheets will be accepted.
The digital sheet must be anonymous and shall not display the name of the participant, the participant’s university, or any other identifying marks.

Since the participants will not be able to present their work in person to the jury members, it is permitted – though not required – to add a few short notes onto the sheet to explain significant aspects of the design. Submitting a digital sheet with a clear and simple presentation is highly encouraged.

Participants should keep an empty white-strip (50 x 420 mm) without images, drawings, or notes at the bottom of the submitted sheet.

Video Submission
Submitting a video about one’s project is optional. In case a video is submitted, it may not be more than one minute in length. The video will not be accepted in lieu of the drawing submission, and it should not reveal the identity of the applicant, the applicant’s instructor, or the applicant’s university. Otherwise, the video will be excluded from the applicant’s submission.

Videos may be sent via WeTransfer or email to info@omraniacsbeaward.org. 

Formal Certificate of Graduation
All participants shall provide a copy of a formal document that certifies their completion of a Bachelor’s degree in architecture or architectural engineering during the 2018 – 2019 academic year. The certificate must be submitted along with the project abstract and drawing sheet. The certificate may be any university-issued formal document that verifies the participant’s graduation. It must be submitted in JPG or PDF format.

All submissions must be uploaded to the Award website between July 07, 2019 and September 17, 2019.

Applicants will receive a confirmation email within three business days of the successful receipt of the submission material.

The names of the participants, as well as any other identifying details, will remain hidden from the jury members until after the jury has made its final decision.

All the submission items mentioned above may be provided in either Arabic or English.

 Disqualification
The Award team fully reserves the right to disqualify participants for any reason it sees fit. For example, if:  i) participants do not meet the eligibility criteria for participation in the competition; ii) participants communicate with the competition organizers or jurors in an attempt to influence the judgment of competition entries; or iii) entries do not satisfy any of the above-mentioned requirements for submission.

Additional details on the eligibility and disqualification, as well as the registration and submission process are available on the FAQ section of this website (http://www.omraniacsbeaward.org/frequently-asked-questions-faq-0).

Evaluation
An independent three-member jury will review the entries and select the winners. The names of the jury members and their biographies will be announced in the coming period.

The jury will evaluate the submissions on their stand-alone merit. In doing so, issues such as clarity of presentation, creativity, design excellence, social responsiveness, function and program, etc. will be taken into account.

The jury’s decision will be final, and the jury has the right to decide on the number of Award recipients, the type of Awards given (winning projects, honorable mentions, projects of merit ...), and the distribution of the prize money among them.

Award and Exhibition
The winning projects will be declared at an Award ceremony. The location and date of the ceremony will be announced at a later date. The winning projects and a selection of submissions will be exhibited immediately after the Award ceremony and for a few days following it. The winning projects will also be published on the Award website and on the Award’s dedicated social media channels.

The Award will cover travel and accommodation expenses for winners from outside the country where the ceremony will be held. Travel coverage will be from the countries of the universities where they studied (or equivalent locations). Should any of the winning projects be the product of a group effort, the Award will cover the expenses of one representative from the group. The Award ceremonies so far have been held in Amman, Manama, Beirut, and Sharjah.

The Award will also cover travel and accommodation expenses for the instructors who supervised the winning projects from the countries of the universities where they taught during the relevant year of the Award cycle (or equivalent locations) to where the ceremony is held. Should any of the winning projects have more than one supervising instructor, the Award will cover the expenses of one instructor.

Inquiries and Updates
For additional inquiries, please call CSBE at (962) (6) 461-5297, or send an email to info@omraniacsbeaward.org.  All developments regarding the Award will be posted on the Award website and Facebook page: www.omraniacsbeaward.org;
https://www.facebook.com/Omrania.CSBE.Student.Award

Note:  Detailed information on the Award’s previous eleven cycles (including winning projects, biographies of jury members, and jury reports) are available on the CSBE website (www.csbe.org) and on the Award website (www.omraniacsbeaward.org). All submitted projects for the 2010 and 2011 cycles of the Award may be viewed on the Award's Facebook page. All projects submitted for the 2012 - 2018 cycles of the Award may be viewed on the Award website.