IFGA26 Categories > Best of University

Best of School of Architecture/University Built Environment Department

Awarded to a school of architecture or built environment department that demonstrates a strong commitment to enabling students to engage with children and young people in shaping place.

This includes integrating participatory approaches into teaching and learning, and showing how this contributes to students’ understanding of practice and future approaches to design and planning.

It may also include outreach activity that builds students’ skills in working with children, young people or communities, and demonstrates meaningful connections between education, practice and public life.

Criteria:

Impact: What meaningful difference has your project made? Describe the tangible benefits to children and young people, provide evidence of outcomes, and explain how you measured success. Demonstrate how effectively the project met, or exceeded, its stated objectives.

Insights: What valuable knowledge or best practices have emerged from your initiative? Share how you identified and applied these lessons, how you have communicated them to others, the breadth of the initiative’s reach, and how you addressed challenges along the way.

Metrics: Provide clear quantitative data that illustrates the scale and engagement of your project. Include the number of children and young people involved, participant retention throughout the programme, and key timelines such as the project’s start and duration.

Reflection: Reflect on how engaging with children and young people has influenced you, your team, or your organisation. Discuss changes in your own practice, shifts in perspective, or ways the experience has shaped your approach to future work.

Enabling students to engage young people in shaping place

Submissions open 2nd June 2026