Essay Writing Contest, 2nd Cycle is the Seventeenth initiative of the Architectural Journalism & Criticism Organization founded by architect Pappal Suneja to spread awareness about this subject and sow the seeds of inspiration to explore and write about Architecture and allied fields from a thinker’s perspective.

Theme for the Series in this cycle is ‘Architectural Precedents’.

Brief

Looking back at the past, formulating the present in anticipation of the future, one is in search of precedents. The question still is; is Precedent always an answer? It may, of course, be a complete answer that one can emulate. Whilst it can also be an intangible form of the answer that is laying the path, but not building the destination.

While in search of a worthy precedent; History may be a route to take, but there are many others too. Precedent may precede one by time, order, class and or importance. So a Precedent may be as close as yesterday and as far as prehistoric. Search for a precedent should open doors, not wearing blinkers. One may look within their house for a precedent, but to open doors one should look around too; a precedent can surely be interdisciplinary. So will an Architectural Precedent always be Architecture?.

There are always exemplary 'Precedents' in the society and History that one can look at; if everyone looks at the same precedent, won't we end up with similar answers? If not, then are Precedents subjective?

An exploration into this realm of Architectural Precedents; is the call of the essay. Open doors and look for Precedents, open eyes identify them, open analysis to interpret them. Document and record a narrative of your experience while you engage and interact with these precedents. 

We welcome entries from Collegians, Professionals, Academicians, Researchers & Design Enthusiasts (Open to All).

Submission Guidelines

- Submissions are open to all writers in English. International submissions are welcome.

- Maximum two entries per registrant are allowed.

- The Essay may be accompanied by an Illustration/Photograph (optional).

- Each essay should not exceed 800-1000 words.

- Participants can freely choose 'one' or 'more' questions from the above mentioned theme.

- The entry along with the registration screenshot should be sent to [email protected] with the subject line Essay Writing Contest, 2nd Cycle - Category (collegians, and Open) in a word document with 12 pt., Arial font, single-line spacing.

- All entrants must mention any of their social media handles with the submission (Instagram, Twitter or Facebook etc.)

- The submission should be an original work of the entrant and will go through a plagiarism test.

- We will announce the winners on in the last week of November 2021

Jury Panel for the Competition

- J. Subramanian, Architect & Design Educator, Middle East & India

- Fatema Kabir, Architect & Researcher, Pune, India

- Pappal Suneja, PhD Scholar, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany

- Lola Kleindouwel, Architectural Designer, the Netherlands

- Miguel Castaño, Product Designer & Researcher, Germany & Colombia

- Kanika Bansal, Architect & Researcher, Chandigarh, India

Timeline

Submission and registration window for the Series opens on 28^th August 2021 – 30^th Oct 2021 (11:59 pm IST/8:29 pm CEST).

- Early Bird Registration till 15th Sep 2021, (600 INR for participants from India and 12 Euros for International Participants).

Indian Participants can follow the link to register, and International Participants can enter here.

- Standard Registration till 29^th Oct 2021, (750 INR for participants from India and 17 Euros for International Participants).

For Queries, Contact: [email protected]. 

Winning Prizes for the Competition are:

Citation Award

An AJC curated set of books worth 11000 INR/150 USD.

Special Mention 1

An AJC curated set of books worth 7500 INR/100 USD.

Special Mention 2

An AJC curated set of books worth 7500 INR/100 USD.

Besides this, we shall send attested E-Certificates of Participation to all the entrants and the winning entries shall be featured on several web architectural portals. Also, the best entries shall be complied as an Anthology with ISBN No. after the successful run of all the cycles under this Series.

Note: AJC supports underprivileged children of the society, we are also in the process to expand our reach; thus interested organizations may contact us in this regard. For further updates regarding the outreach activities and events, Visit the Instagram and Facebook handle of the Organisation. 

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