STAGE TWO: SEMIFINALISTS

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FELLOWSHIP COMPETITION OPEN TO ALL SEMIFINALISTS

 
Background

This year, all BERKELEY PRIZE Semifinalists – whether you have been advanced as Finalists or not - are given a choice to compete in two further prize opportunities.  You may compete in either the 2009 Travel Fellowship Competition or in the 2009 Architectural Design Fellowship Competition.   Study both opportunities closely and decide which best fits your current interests and then respond as directed for one or the other award.

(NOTE:  If you submitted an essay as part of a team, all team members may apply for the Travel Fellowship individually.  If, however, you submitted an essay as part of a team and want to apply for the Architectural Design Fellowship, you must do so, once again, as a team.)

The 2009 Travel Fellowship Competition 


Semifinalists who select this option are invited to submit proposals demonstrating how they would use the opportunity to travel to an architecturally-significant destination, preferably to participate in a hands-on service-oriented situation.  This is an exciting opportunity to explore a different part of the world and to participate in an organized project that will assist the winner in gaining a deeper understanding of the social art of architecture.



Travel Fellowship candidates will be asked to submit a proposal for a specific plan of travel and study away from their academic institution during the Summer of 2009.  The Travel Fellowship provides round-trip airfare from the city in which you are studying to the destination and back, and a stipend to cover lodging, food, and incidentals during your stay, normally enough for three weeks. 



The requirements for the Travel Fellowship Proposals are open-ended. The BERKELEY PRIZE Committee looks for both an understanding of the opportunity that is offered, and an understanding of the possible ways in which the student's research into the current year's PRIZE topic  - Sustainable Design/Traditional Wisdom - might be furthered by the travel opportunity. 

The winning student will be asked to write a Report on their travels that will be posted on the BERKELEY PRIZE website. Students are also asked to keep a photo diary of their time spent traveling that will also be posted on the website.

See past winning Proposals and Reports from the Winners here.

The 2009 Architectural Design Fellowship Competition


In 2008, the BERKELEY PRIZE Committee established the Architectural Design Fellowship Competition. This prize aims to foster the study of the social art of architecture by sponsoring local and regional design competitions developed and run by students.

This competition challenges the candidates to produce a thorough and practical proposal for a design competition that would benefit a selected region or institution.  Your competition should be based on some aspect of the Essay you have submitted in response to the current year’s topic of Sustainable Design/Traditional Wisdom. It is intended that your competition should be concluded before the end of 2009.

The successful candidate will be provided with funds to support the competition and to provide individual cash prizes.  You will be asked to name a Faculty or Administrative Advisor within your academic institution for your competition.  He or she must agree to assist you with any professional guidance needed to make the competition a success.  It will be up to you, however, to decide the scope of the competition, how you intend to publicize it,  establish the entry requirements, select judges, and determine the awards..  You will be asked to provide the BERKELEY PRIZE with periodic updates on the progress of your competition and a final report on the results, all of which will be posted on the BERKELEY PRIZE website.

See past winning Proposals and Reports from the Winners here.

We are happy to announce that 23 contestants have advanced to the Semifinalist round (Stage Two) of the Berkeley Prize 2009 competition. Architecture students from 22 countries entered this year's competition. Semifinalists are invited to submit a 2500-word essay based on their 500-word Proposal. The top five to seven essays will be selected for final judging by the Berkeley Prize Jury.

 All Authors, whether promoted to Semifinalists or not, can LOGIN to read the Reviewers comments of your Proposals.  Instructions for semifinalists are included below.
 

SEMIFINALIST WINNERS

Hannah Allawi	The American University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates
Hajir Alttahir	Manchester School of Architecture	UK
Reem Alwahabi	The American University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates
Caitlin Dittman	University of Queensland	Australia
Aaron Dresben	University of California, Berkeley	USA
Luat Duong	University of Arizona	USA
Jedidiah Gordon-Moran	Dalhousie University	Canada
Akshay Goyal	Birla Institute of Technology, MESRA, Ranchi	India
Kanchane Gunawardena	University of Bath	UK
Matthew Hartney and Matthew Barbesin	University of Waterloo	Canada
Sharayah Jimenez	University of Arizona	USA
Neelakshi Joshi	Birla Institute of Technology, MESRA, Ranchi	India
Brian Lee and Anna Asuncion	University of Santo Tomas	Philippines
Cristina Lorie	University of Nebraska, Lincoln	USA
Guy Mambo	Makerere University, Kampala Uganda	Uganda
Dominic Mathew	Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi	India
Tyler Rozicki	Dalhousie University	Canada
Isona Shibata	University of Sheffield	UK
Adam Smith	Dalhousie University	Canada
Summer Sutton	Cornell University	USA
Vesna Trobec	University of Sydney	Australia
Robert Ungar	Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design	Israel
Pragnya Varma and Sarah Kantrowitz	D. Y. Patil College of Architecture and Reed College	India and USA

INSTRUCTIONS TO SEMIFINALISTS

We compliment all of the Semifinalists on the extraordinary diversity of ideas and approaches in response to this year’s Question. Such responses indicate the depth of interest and concern for Architecture as a Social Art. As an essay competition, the BERKELEY PRIZE encourages the translation of these interests and concerns into a format for communication both to those within the profession and the wider public.

In Stage Two, you are to expand upon your chosen topic in 2,500 words. The BERKELEY PRIZE Committee encourages Semifinalists to improve the crafting of their ideas. A few suggestions seem appropriate:

• Before you begin to write the 2,500 word essay, it is essential that you carefully consider the Reviewers' comments about your Proposal for the essay. These comments are meant to help you write a winning essay. Please read your reviewer comments in your Author Portfolio.
• An essay is different from a Proposal.  Your Proposal was selected because the Reviewers believed that it was a good outline that had the potential to be developed into an even better essay.  You want to do more – much more - than simply re-state your argument.  Explore and expand your ideas, the reasons for them, and the conclusions you have reached because of them.  Substantiate these thoughts with specific examples.  Remember:  the Question asks HOW could a lost social tradition be revived, not just WHAT tradition should be revived.  We do not expect you to provide intricate details; we do hope that you will give us a sense of a possible path to follow to achieve your stated goal.
•  In answering this year's Question, the BERKELEY PRIZE Committee is particularly interested in responses that speak to the general public. If social architecture is to become the norm, rather then the exception, the public must be persuaded of the value of design that reflects human worth. If social ideas are to be realized, rather then simply discussed, the public must be persuaded that there is added value to initiating your idea as opposed to doing nothing. This means selecting a voice that is both your own, and one that is accessible to both serious readers and those who read only the "lead" points.
•  Avoid the use of professional language unfamiliar to many of your "intended" readers, except where absolutely necessary. Avoid jargon.
• Ask a friend to read your essay before submitting it. Better yet, show it to two friends: one, a fellow architecture student; the second, a person not familiar with the discipline or profession. Use their input to revise your draft. If you can prevail on them, ask them to read your revised draft.

You have almost six weeks to produce your essay in final form. Use at least four of these weeks creatively to improve your writing abilities in English. Read some good prose written in English. Novels, poetry and architectural writing are great teachers. Use the websites listed below to improve your vocabulary and syntax. Check your spelling and vocabulary when in doubt.

refdesk.com

William Strunk, Jr. The Elements of Style

Dictionary.com

Thesaurus.com


Finally: Have fun. Essays by their very nature are somewhat formal, but the best are also a delight to read because they reflect the excitement, commitment, and pleasure of the writer. Good luck.


NOTE:  After all of the Essays are submitted, all Semifinalists will be offered the opportunity to participate in either the 2009 Travel Fellowship Competition, or the 2009 Architectural Design Fellowship Competition.  Full instructions for those additional entries will be made at that time.

ONLINE SUBMISSION SYSTEM

LOGIN TO YOUR AUTHOR PORTFOLIO to submit your essay.


The essays are due at midnight, Universal Coordinated Time (Greenwich Mean Time), February 28, and should be submitted through the online submission system.

If you are ready to submit your essay to our online system, please follow the link above. You may return as many times as you like to modify your essay. Please have your essay ready to cut and paste into the online forms provided.