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Designer, Writer and Editor of Beedier

On that rainy bank holiday Monday past - instead of getting out and enjoying the city, I stayed in and crunched some data on the AJ Small Projects Awards. Don't feel bad for me - I enjoy doing this kind of thing! Having pitched often for this award with various clients, it is useful to know some stats about the spread of projects that are selected - as there is about a 1/10 chance of hitting the shortlist. Half the battle with award submissions is having a good feeling whether you are likely to be shortlisted and knowing the odds. One thing that came up here - and I suspect it may be the case for all architectural award schemes across the country - is just how few studios in the North of England and the Midlands are submitting entries and getting shortlisted. Why are smaller projects outside of London, Southern England, and Scotland not finding an audience through award shortlists and press articles? This is actually an open question to Architects’ Journal and other awards organisers. Frances Williams - any thoughts? How can we make it better? #architecture #awards

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The AJ Small Projects Awards is one of our favourites in the architectural calendar. It does a great job at shining a light on up and coming studios. We visited the awards event at Hawkins\Brown's London studio last week, and spoke to the winners, organisers at Architects’ Journal, and Marley - who have sponsored the awards for over ten year. Congratulations to Takeshi Hayatsu - who picked up the overall prize for his studio's innovative extension to a Lake District pub, to the runner up Artefact, Sustainability prize winner Topo Architects and People's Prize champion Commonbond Architects. And of course, we couldn't resist taking a closer look at the statistics. Who has been shortlisted the most times, what is the project typology and regional spread of shortlisted projects? Read the article to find out more. https://bit.ly/3UQwI9D #architecture #ajsmallprojectsawards #awards

Robert Woodburn Park

Designer, Writer and Editor of Beedier

6mo

Here is a graphic illustration - the distribution of AJ Small Projects Awards shortlisted project from the past 20 years.

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Jack Mutton

Director at Topo Architects

5mo

Hi Robert - this is great - from the data it’s clear that there’s been less engagement from practices outside of London. - It’s hard to say why this might be, however there's a strong support network amongst small practices in the North East and we hope that ongoing talks, exhibitions and research will help to understand how we might encourage more nationwide discussion and recognition.

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