RIBA announces International Awards for 2020

Launching with the announcement of its Grand Jury Chair, the new cycle of the RIBA International Awards has just commenced. French architect Odile Decq has been revealed as the head of the different judging panels that will select the acclaimed group of honours for 2020.
The RIBA International Awards for Excellence (20 stand-out buildings from around the world) comprises the RIBA International Prize (the single best of them all) and the RIBA International Emerging Architect Prize (a recognition for the shortlist's young guns). Presented every two years, and now on their third edition, the British institute's awards have been gathering pace. Past winners include celebrated, worthy works, such as the Children Village school complex in Brazil by Aleph Zero and Rosenbaum, and UTEC (Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología) in Lima, Peru by Grafton Architects.
Named Chair for the 2020 Grand Jury, French architect Odile Decq will lead the judging process.
Seeking to reward excellence in architecture, in particular highlighting work with a social and community value that stretch the boundaries of contemporary architecture and what can be achieved through building design, the International Awards stand out in the global architectural prize calendar. Spanning established practices and young pioneers from all corners of the earth, the aim is ‘to discover the best architecture for a better life', says Decq.
And while the RIBA is a British based institution, these awards are open to any qualified architect in the world for a building outside of the UK, of any size and type of budget, the organisers hasten to clarify. Let the submissions begin.
UTEC - Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia by Grafton Architects won the very first RIBA International Prize in 2016.
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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
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