One Drawing Challenge 2020: Send Us a Drawing, Tell Us a Story, Win $2,500

It’s time to get your pencils sharpened and your computer mice primed — architecture’s biggest drawing competition is back! The 2nd Annual One Drawing Challenge is now accepting entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of August 14th this year. Begin preparing your work for a shot at $2,500 and global recognition:

Enter the One Drawing Challenge

Just like last year, the One Drawing Challenge poses one question: Can you create a single drawing that tells the story behind a complex piece of architecture?

2019 entrants, clockwise from top left: “Between Possibilities and Limitations” by Ozair Mansoor (2019 Student Winner); “Plastic Britain” by Christian Coackley (Commended Entry); “The Machine: A Mechanical Mudlark” by Mandalika Justine Roberts (2019 Non-Student Winner); “All at Sea” by Amélie Savoie-Saumure, Pascale Julien and Matt Breton-Honeyman (Commended Entry)

Competition Brief

Thanks to social media, more people than ever now consume architecture every day through their feeds. However, their attention is fleeting — with millions of architectural ideas flowing across the web, each designer has just a brief moment to make an impact. This means one image or drawing needs to possess the power to tell a whole story on its own, in seconds.

Your task is as follows: Create one drawing that communicates a new architectural proposal or existing piece of architecture, and the experience of those that would inhabit it. It can be located anywhere in the world and be at any scale. It can take the form of a plan, section, elevation, perspective or sketch. As long as it portrays part or all of a building or group of buildings, it is eligible. This should be accompanied by a short description of your proposal, no more than 150 words.

Your drawing should be a minimum of 2000 pixels wide, with a maximum file size of 15MB. All the competition guidelines can be found here.

Enter the One Drawing Challenge

Judges and Prizes

Two grand prizes of $2,500 given to the winners (one student and one non-student), as well as the chance to be published across Architizer, making your work visible to a design community of more than 4 million people!

Each as well as having their work reviewed by these influential experts, two top winners will scoop $2,500 and a package of digital drawing tools to advance their craft. 10 further Commended Entries will also win special prizes, as well as having their drawings featured on Architizer Journal in a special winners announcements. Finalists will also have their work published and promoted to Architizer’s community of more than 4.5 million followers.

100 Finalists will be scored by a stellar jury of practitioners and thought leaders from the worlds of architecture, design and technology, each with a special connection to drawing. The jury will represent those leaders who are actively bringing architecture to the public today, both online and in the built environment. For entrants and winners, this is an opportunity to get their work in front of the people shaping how the world engages with architecture now and in the future. Watch out for more jury announcements soon!

2019 Commended Entrants: “The Unending Square” by Caleb Ong Yan Weng; “Seed Lottery” by Nathan Gradoville; “Knucklebead” by Andrew Evans; “Baker Street” by Isabelle Turco

Inspiration for Your Submission

Last summer, the inaugural One Drawing Challenge captivated our community, providing inspiration to architects, designers and students across the globe. Inspiration can be taken from every entry, but particularly the two stunning Winners in the Student and Non-Student categories.

The student winner of the 2019 competition was Ozair Mansoor, a student at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan. Mansoor’s conceptual piece “Between Possibilities and Limitations” captivated jurors with its highly atmospheric and spatial qualities.

Last season’s non-student winner was British architect Mandalika Justine Roberts, who took the title with her drawing “The Machine: A Mechanical Mudlark”. Roberts’ atmospheric work was inspired by the modern day treasure hunters of the River Thames in London, and encapsulates the collision of man and machine, expressed through the historical narrative of scavenging.

All winners and commended entries from last year’s One Drawing Challenge can be viewed here.

Without further ado, register for the competition today, and begin sifting through your best drawings to prepare your entry. The One Drawing Challenge Regular Entry Deadline hits on August 14th!

Enter the One Drawing Challenge