The narrower circle of nominees for the National Prize for Architecture will be known by September 15

Prague - The narrower selection of 50 nominated projects for the National Prize for Architecture, that is, the Grand Prix Architects, will be made by the jury no later than September 15. The selected architects will then present their work on October 20, the day of the ceremonial announcement of the winners. This year's jury will be chaired by Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, known for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York. Oleg Haman, the chairman of the Architects' Association, which organizes the competition, announced this at today's press conference. Last year, a total of 207 projects entered the competition, and Haman expects this year's number to be similar.

The jury is composed of five members each year. One is always from the Czech Republic and one from Slovakia, while the remaining members are chosen from other countries. Libeskind previously worked on the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York, where two planes hijacked by terrorists crashed in 2001, leading to the creation of the memorial called Grand Zero. Other well-known projects of his include the Jewish Museum in Berlin and a multifunctional arena in Tampere, Finland.

Joining Libeskind on the jury will be Spaniard Ana Luengo, Slovene Špela Videčnik, Slovak Andrea Bacová, and Czech Anna Svobodová. "This year's jury unusually has a majority of women, balanced by the very well-known figure of architect Daniel Libeskind, the author of the new skyscraper at Ground Zero in New York. I am glad he was selected as the jury chairman," Haman added.

Last year, the national prize for architecture went to the Štvanická bridge in Prague, created by the authors Petr Tej, Marek Blank, Jan Mourek, Aleš Hvízdal, and Jan Hendrych. Projects can be submitted for this year's 32nd edition of the competition whose approval occurred between January 1 of last year and March 31, 2025. For landscape architecture and garden design, projects may have been realized between January 1, 2022, and March 31 of this year. Projects can be submitted until June 30.

The 50 selected finalist projects will be presented by architects before the jury as part of the Grand Prix Architects festival. The presentation is an integral part of the second round of evaluation and annually influences the jury's decision, which has already visited the finalist projects prior to the presentation itself, according to Haman. The jury asks specific questions and details about the project. In addition to the jurors, representatives of the Architecture Listeners' Association are also present at the presentation and can also ask about the project. The audience at the festival consists mainly of students from secondary and higher schools interested in architecture, but the festival is also accessible to the general public.

The Architects' Association began to form in 1921 as a continuation of architect associations from the First Republic. In 1989, it transformed from the Union of Architects and participated in founding the professional organization of the Czech Chamber of Architects from 1990 to 1993. In 1948, it became a founding member of the International Union of Architects. The association aims to promote Czech architecture to a wide professional and lay audience in the Czech Republic and abroad.