Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Début Award

1. About

For the fifth time, the Lisbon Architecture Triennale presents the Début Award, targeting those who are starting their careers in order to celebrate the work and promote the path for new generations in architecture.
  

Both individual and collective applications will be evaluated by an international jury. A group of influential nominators from Portugal and other parts of the world will also suggest practitioners and studios to apply, besides the submissions made by the applicants’ own initiative.

The jury will select five finalists - who will present their work at a lecture in Lisbon - and then the winner.

This award aims to support emerging voices and innovative practices in architecture as a symbolic gesture of encouragement for the future. The goal is to contribute once again to intellectual and professional growth at a crucial moment of their careers.

2. Prize

2.1 During its 7th edition (2 October to 8 December 2025), the Triennale will promote a public lecture dedicated to the work of up to five finalists.

2.1.1 The organisation will reimburse each finalist up to €1,000.00 (one thousand euros) for travel expenses to Lisbon.

2.1.2 Applicants agree to give a lecture on their work without any compensation being due.

2.2 The winning person or architectural studio selected by the jury will receive the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp trophy award.

3. Eligibility

3.1. The competition is open to architects under the age of 40 (forty), or any architecture office with an average age up to 40 (forty) by February 24, 2025. Only one submission per applicant will be admitted.
 

3.2 A presentation of the work up to three (3) key projects will be evaluated by the jury.

3.3. The prize will be given to one person, in case of individual application, or a studio, in case of a collective application. 

3.4. The prize will not be given to a group of individual names.

3.5 Proposals can be denied if they do not comply with these:

• Participants who are connected to or have had a privileged relationship (personal or professional) with any of the members of the jury
• People employed by the Lisbon Triennale, its executive team, governing bodies, partner organisations and/or sponsors.

4. Jury

The jury is composed by:

• Inês Lobo
• Lígia Nobre
• Samia Henni
• Sandi Hilal
• Yuma Shinohara

5. Dates

Request Clarifications: until 24 January 2025
  
Application: until 24 February 2025 (23h59 Lisbon time)
  

Announcement of finalists: until 24 June 2025

Lecture with five finalists and announcement of Début Award winner: during the 7th Triennale (2 October to 8 December 2025)

6. Submission of Applications

6.1 Applications must only be submitted digitally through this  online form.

6.2. Applications sent via email, regular post or any other way will not be accepted. The lack of documentation will also count as a motive to be declined.

6.3. Mandatory documents to be attached:

• Presentation, in landscape format, with one to three key project(s) illustrating your approach and practice, with texts, photographs, drawings, diagrams, renders, collages or other visualisations (credits where necessary). The projects to be included must have been developed as a professional and not as a student. We recommend not exceeding 20 (twenty) pages.
• 1 (One) letter of recommendation, in English (or, if this is impossible, accompanied by a translation), signed and describing the relationship with the person or studio submitting the proposal.
• 6 (six) photographs, renders or high-resolution images, preferably horizontal, of the projects included in the submission and 1 (one) photograph depicting the person or team, all duly credited (project name and author(s), location, year of completion, photo credit).
• Proof of age by scanning an official document, such as a passport. In the case of a studio, each person with a formal connection to the studio (partner, associate) must provide proof of age.

All the information and the documents to be submitted on the form must be written in English.

There is no participation fee.

7. Right of use and promotion

7.1. Intellectual property rights of third parties, individual or collective, public or private, including but not limited to copyright, trade mark or design rights are the sole responsibility of the authors of the projects and proposers.

7.2 Without prejudice to the provisions of the previous paragraph, texts, images, sound or related rights may be used by the Lisbon Triennale for information, promotion, dissemination, mediation, educational and archive purposes, without any time limit and free of charge, duly credited in accordance with the information provided in the application form.

8. Confidentiality

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale will treat all information, references and identification documents submitted by the applicants as confidential and will not disclose them to third parties without prior consent of the applicants.

9. Clarifications

Every clarification and doubt about the interpretation of the present guidelines, as well as other questions, must be submitted to the organisation by sending an e-mail message to debut@trienaldelisboa.com, within the deadline.

The Lisbon Triennale will publish the list of FAQ's through its website, in the Open Calls tab.

10. Final Provisions

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale reserves the right to amend these guidelines, hereby committing to communicating those alterations through the same means used in the promotion of the original guidelines.