Are you a brilliant early-career design professional? We want to recognise your potential. Enter our annual competition.
RIBAJ, in association with Origin, is scouting for the built environment’s Rising Stars – those early-career professionals designing the best buildings and enabling better places.
Tell us about your superpowers: design, collaboration, coordination, bidding and/or harnessing technology.
Do you fight for sustainability, or help your clients realise their buildings’ potential?
Winners will be profiled in the RIBAJ and on ribaj.com, and will be invited to an exclusive class of 2025 roundtable.
Deadline: Wednesday 3 September 2025, 2pm BST
COMPETITION CONDITIONS
1. Competition promoter
The competition is being run by the RIBAJ
2. Eligibility
To be eligible, UK architecture graduates need to have completed either RIBA Part 2, or equivalent, within 10 years of Wednesday, 3 September 2025. Other professions and architects outside the UK need to have completed their professional qualifications within 10 years of 3 September 2025.
No member or employee of the promoting body, the evaluation panel or any partner, close associate or employee of these is eligible to compete or assist a competitor.
3. Competition format
The competition is single-phase.
A cohort of between eight and 12 Rising Stars will be selected. Names and information of shortlisted and longlisted entries will also be published.
4. Acceptance of competition regulations
By entering, entrants agree to abide by the competition conditions. The decision of the evaluation panel is final.
All images should be saved using the format: surname initial number.
Please note the details entered in the captions and credits will be used as the credits in publication and promotional activity so please ensure they are accurate.
5. Evaluation panel
The evaluation panel is still to be announced. It will be chaired by RIBAJ editor, Eleanor Young
In the event of an evaluation panel member being unable to continue to act through illness or any other cause, the RIBA reserves the right to appoint an alternative panel member.
6. Competition timetable
The anticipated programme, which may be subject to variation, is as follows:
|
Competition launch |
Monday 2 June 2025 |
|
Submission deadline |
Wednesday 3 September 2025 by 2pm BST |
|
Evaluation of entries |
Wednesday 17 September 2025 |
|
Shortlist announced |
Tuesday 30 September 2025 |
|
Results announced on ribaj.com and published in the RIBAJ with email notification to entrants |
Tuesday 21 October 2025 |
7. Disqualification
Submissions shall be excluded from the competition:
- If received after the deadline of Wednesday 3 September 2025 2pm BST
- If, in the opinion of the evaluation panel, it does not fulfil the requirements of the competition brief
- If any of the mandatory requirements of the competition brief and conditions are disregarded
8. Submission requirements
The following elements must be submitted:
- Biography of entrant, 50 words maximum
- Personal statement from entrant, 400 words maximum
- Referee statement, 100 words maximum
- Two to five images and drawings of work referenced
- One portrait of the entrant
- Answers to questions, 100 words maximum each (for publication only)
9. Submission method
Each submission should be uploaded Wednesday, 3 September 2025, 2pm BST.
Late entries will not be accepted and the digital entry system will not permit uploads after the deadline. You are strongly advised to allow adequate time for your submission material to be successfully uploaded.
10. Evaluation criteria
Entries should demonstrate:
- Original thinking in design and beyond
- Agility, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances
- Leadership from above, below or alongside
- A collaborative approach
- Sheer graft
- Outcomes and impacts.
We welcome entries that focus on one particular achievement or initiative as well as those that detail a wider breadth of activities. Don’t forget to tell us how you personally contributed to the achievements you mention.
11. Notification of result/publication and publicity
The competition results will be published as entrants are notified.
Entrants should note that by entering the competition, they are expected to honour the request for confidentiality to prevent information on individuals who have been longlisted, shortlisted or selected as winners from being leaked to other press before any official announcement is made.
The RIBA reserves the right to publicise the competition and the result, using any materials submitted, in any promotional activity, including on all social media channels, as it considers fit.
You and your collaborators also grant the RIBA permission to reproduce the material supplied in all formats, in all media and all platforms in perpetuity, in whole or in part – either separately or together with other designs, with or without explanatory text – without payment.
Authors will credited and recognised in all associated media and publicity. This information will be taken from the file names of entered images so please ensure the details are accurate.
12. Enquiries
All enquiries relating to the competition should be directed to:
Members of the evaluation panel should not be contacted for information, as this may lead to disqualification from the competition.
RIBA Rising Stars is produced in association with Origin Doors and Windows