The New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) is now accepting entries to their annual competition for architectural essays. The Warren Trust Awards for Architectural Writing include two categories: Open and Secondary School Student. Prizes of $2,000 for the Open category and $1,000 for the Secondary School Student category will be awarded, along with several $500 highly commended awards. Essays must be submitted by 22 September.

This year’s essay topic is, “Write about the work of an architect, of any place and time. What’s so interesting about this architect and his or her work?” Essays in the Open category should be no more than 1,500 words, and essays in the Student category should be no more than 800 words. Selected essays from each year’s competition are also published in a book by the NZIA.

The 2019 competition will be judged by Nicola Legat, publisher at Massey University Press; Lucinda Bennett, editor at The Pantograph Punch; and John Walsh, communications director of theNZIA.

John Walsh notes that the Awards “were established to promote an informed critical culture about architecture and, especially, to give younger writers an incentive to write about the subject”. He says, “We hope the competition will appeal to anyone who enjoys the craft of writing and the challenges of the essay format.”

See the full entry conditions and instructions here, and read previous years’ winning essays here.