1. Project Requirements
Project requirements Submissions for the “built” project categories must have been completed and occupied prior to April 2026 and after December 2024. Projects must not have been submitted previously within the same category, unless it was previously “unbuilt” and is now “built”. Student Award: Project must be a final project for final year of the undergraduate degree, or final year of Masters / Post-graduate degree, and must be from Academic Year 2025/26
2. Declaration
The MSA will only use the photographs or other media submitted for the purposes of the MSA Awards.
The MSA will require confirmation that the relevant copyright owner of the photograph or other media submitted has licensed the right to use the photograph or other media of your scheme for all purposes related to the MSA Awards (in print, social and digital media). This might include publicising an exhibition (of winning entries), a lecture series (featuring the winning architects), or promoting the award itself. Photographers will always be credited on their images, so supplying us with
Use of information
Data, including images, plans, drawings, technical and budget information and narrative text submitted in support of all MSA Awards entries will be used by the MSA and Judge acting on its behalf for the purposes of assessing Awards entries in the current year of judging. Any information relating to budget, personal details, such as company names or client names, addresses that the individual or agent preparing the application wishes to remain confidential during and subsequent to the Judging process should mark information as confidential when submitting. Information marked as Confidential will not be shared for publicity or any form of public dissemination. Information not marked as Confidential will be assumed to be suitable for public dissemination. For the avoidance of doubt, information marked confidential will be shared with Awards Juries acting on the behalf of the MSA for the purposes of evaluating and assessing Awards entries. Juries will be made aware of their obligation to treat the information as Confidential beyond the immediate purposes of assessing Awards entries. The visual data (images, plans, drawings) will also be used by the MSA for the promotion of the Awards.
Data will be held by the MSA in perpetuity for the purposes of maintaining a record of the entries and for our archive. This information will not be shared with any third party without the express and prior consent of the author, their clients or agents acting on their behalf.
3. Submission Requirements
1 × A1 Landscape Submission Board
A horizontal A1 presentation board which contains:
- Photographs/Renders of the proposals
- Site Layout/Context plan indicating site location and constraints
- Floor plan (if not covered elsewhere)
- Short statement explaining the project (150 words)
- Please note this board will be for judging purposes and presented on the evening of the Awards.
1 × A3 project description sheet
This will not be presented on the evening but used for judging purposes alongside the A1 board.
Max 500 word description/statement (optional), including:
- Clients brief/planning constraints, materials/method of construction/ summary of timescales/ programme, budget & cost
- A short statement on how the building contributes to society and meets the principals of inclusive design where applicable
- Additional optional information: for example, diagrams, sketches, site photographs.
1 × high res jpeg image
A high resolution project image which will be used for the rolling presentation display on the evening of the awards.
1 x A4 Model Making description sheet
This will not be presented on the evening but used for judging purposes for the new ‘ Making Matters’ modelmaking award. Max 300 word description including:
- One/ several images of the models made
- Short statement on how the models were made, at what stage and how they contributed to the design process and why model making is important in your practice
- Please state if models were made in house/ outsourced and credit the maker
- Please let us know the model dimensions
File Naming
Please could all files for upload be named as the following:
[Category Number]_[Project Title]_[Architect Practice]_[Submission Document]
Eg.
05_Brick House_Manchester Architect_A1 Submission Board
Category Clarifications
01 Commercial Built
Offices, retail, bars, hotels, industrial, completed between April 2025 and April 2026
02 Commercial Unbuilt
Offices, retail, bars, hotels, industrial
03 House – Built
Residential house (single), can also includes extensions and remodelling completed between April 2025 and April 2026
04 House – Unbuilt
Residential house (single), can also include extensions and remodelling
05 Housing – Built
Multiple housing developments, apartments, high-rise residential completed between April 2025 and April 2026
06 Housing – Unbuilt
Multiple housing developments, apartments, high-rise residential
07 Retrofit & Adaptive reuse – Built
An outstanding refurbished or retrofitted building that has been updated to modern standards of energy efficiency completed between April 2025 to April 2026.
08 Small Project & Extension – Built
A new-build or refurbishment project from any sector completed for less than £500k total construction cost. Must be completed between April 2025 to April 2026.
09 Community Built
Buildings which enhance the local community; community centre, schools, theatres, transport projects, sports, museums, cinemas, religious buildings, art galleries, health centres & hospitals completed between April 2025 and April 2026.
10 Community Unbuilt
Buildings which enhance the local community, community centre, schools, theatres, transport projects, sports, museums, cinemas, religious buildings, art galleries, health centres & hospitals
11 Future Architect
Can be entered by BArch of MArch students at Manchester School of Architecture or Salford who have studied in the last year. Prize for the winner is £1,000
*All entries will be judged on sustainability credentials, innovative design and placemaking.
Non-Enterable Categories:
12 Innovation Award – additional award chosen by judge from all entries to the awards
13 Presidents Choice – chosen from all the entries to the awards
15 Making Matters Award – additional model making award introduced following the success of Making Matters Exhibition in collaboration with AiM, judged by Scott Miller
14 Outstanding Contribution – voted by MSA committee
*We will be in touch ahead of the awards evening to coordinate logistics for the models to be exhibited on the night ( TBC model size and space availability dependant)