The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA). The Stirling Prize is presented to "the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year". The architects must be RIBA members. Until 2014, the building could have been anywhere in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, but since 2015 entries have had to be in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In the past, the award included a £20,000 prize, but it currently carries no prize money. The award was founded in 1996, and is considered to be the most prestigious architecture award in the United Kingdom. The Stirling Prize replaced the RIBA Building of the Year Award. The Stirling Prize is the highest profile British architectural award, and the presentation ceremony has been televised by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. Six shortlisted buildings are chosen from a long-list of buildings that have received a RIBA National Award. These awards are given to buildings showing "high architectural standards and substantial contribution to the local environment". In addition to the RIBA Stirling Prize, five other awards are given to buildings on the long-list. In 2015 they consisted of: the RIBA National Award, the RIBA Regional Award, the Manser Medal, the

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Prize and the RIBA Client of the Year Award. For years prior to 1996, the award was known as the "Building of the Year Award". In 2000, several

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

made claims of metropolitan bias after five out of seven designs shortlisted by judges were located within London. Critics described the list as "London-centric". The chairman of the judges in the contest rejected the claims, saying that the first Stirling Prize was awarded to a building in

Salford, Greater Manchester Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county aft ...

. On 30 September 2020, RIBA announced that the awards had been postponed until 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Judges selected the 2021 prize winner from the 2020 shortlist.

Laureates and runners-up

As the "RIBA Building of the Year Award"

Citations

External links

RIBA Stirling PrizeChannel 4 - Building of the year
{{Stirling Prize laureates Architecture awards Architecture in the United Kingdom British awards Awards established in 1996 1996 establishments in the United Kingdom Royal Institute of British Architects Annual events in the United Kingdom

Laureates and runners-up

See also

Citations

External links