Submit your abstracts for the Essay Competition 2025 by CEPT University latest by April 30. Exciting Prizes up for grabs!
About the Competition
CEPT Essay Prize 2025 invites young writers from architecture, urban planning, all fields of design, humanities, social sciences, and other allied fields, to reflect on the theme of Abandon that is ‘a salient beauty of the object in its passage in time (Simmel, 1959). The Essay prize intends to invoke micro-narratives of Abandon, first as a noun, almost as if arrested in time, so the young essayists can pause, capture, view and reflect on the very existence of the aesthetic of abandon. What does a building feel when it lays in abandon, like havelis that nobody visits? How does a forest grow when left alone to the laws of nature? How do old textile mills or ruins speak for themselves? How does a poet capture the feeling of being with oneself and letting go? Literature too is replete with the motif of abandon and survival, and of rejuvenation through it all.
In life, we tend to see this sense of Abandon as singular. This is probably why psychoanalysis has captured it as a loss of a human attachment resulting in a sense of deep insecurity. But if we see it as a verb, as a ‘thingness at work’, endowed with deep cultural values and scars of life, Abandon becomes a live, thriving sign of life itself. Like the Banyan tree, the Aravali mountain range, the dried river Sabarmati that once was, like old folks living their everyday life in a rhythmic, cyclic continuity unaffected by the lure of aesthetics, perfection or security.
The essential focus of the micro-narratives here is to be on the very character of Abandon. How does it play out in the world, how is it interpreted through mythology or folklore, how is it invested with life and/or death? When people abandon, what exactly happens? What do they vacate in the process? A history? A space? Objects? Relationships? Connections? Reconstruct the idea of Abandon as if one were viewing it in a mirror to see a form, an aspiration, a dream that the abandon refracts. Because only through that refraction can a new world be created.
Thematic Instructions
- The writing should be accessible to a wider readership beyond the architecture and planning audiences; and it should also be able to connect with readers across the world beyond South and South-East Asia.
- Clarity of thought and simplicity of language will be preferred.
- Directness of communication or arguments presented is encouraged.
Eligibility
- Graduates from any allied areas of architecture, planning, interior design and urban design, under the age of 30 years are eligible to apply
- Individual Submissions Only
- Any candidate can apply to the CEPT Essay Prize for a maximum of two cycles; however, those who have been awarded the first or second position in any cycle are no longer eligible to apply for a subsequent cycle.
Application Process
- The essay competition will be held in two stages.
- First, we invite participants to submit an essay abstract of about 500 words, along with their CV, proof of- last academic degree attained and DOB (date of birth).
- A panel of four experts will blind-review the abstracts and shortlist the entrants.
- The selected participants will be required to submit a long-form essay of 3000 words, which will be further blind-reviewed by a panel of three eminent jurors.
- Submit the abstract, documents, and the final essay (if shortlisted) by email to: essayprize[at]cept[dot]ac[dot]in
Important Dates
- Last date for submission of abstracts & documents: 30 Apr, 2025
- Announcement of shortlisted abstracts: 26 May, 2025
- Submission of full essay: 26 Jul, 2025
- Announcement of winners: 6 Oct, 2025
- Submissions/queries to: essayprize[at]cept[dot]ac[dot]in
- Prize event/ceremony: To be announced later
Prize and Publication
- First Prize: INR 100,000*
- Second Prize: INR 50,000*
- Honorary mentions
*subject to tax deduction as applicable
Selected top essays are published as CEPT Essay Prize book (with ISBN) by CEPT University Press. All the contributors are awarded a certificate and a complimentary copy of the book as a token of appreciation and participation. Additional copies of the books can be bought through CEPT Press.
How to Submit?
Submit the abstract, documents, and the final essay (if shortlisted) by email to: essayprize[at]cept[dot]ac[dot]in
Deadline
Last date for submission of abstracts and documents: 30 Apr, 2025
Contact
CEPT University
Kasturbhai Lalbhai Campus
University Road, Navrangpura
Ahmedabad 380009
Email: essayprize@cept.ac.in
Phone: +91-79-68310000 | Ext No: 207
