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DRAWING OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2025
CELEBRATING + RECOGNISING CREATIVE TALENT
The sixth, annual, free to enter Awards in collaboration with D5 Render and HP
The Drawing of the Year Awards are the ultimate accolade in visual representation supported by Affinity creative software. Now in the sixth year, the widely recognised Awards showcase the most accomplished creative imagery, drawings and visual representations across architecture, art, design and the built environment globally.
Receiving thousands of entries each year, the annual Award series is celebrating six years of supporting creativity - with over £125,000 GBP ($150,000 USD) worth of prizes to be won, including the opportunity of being showcased within the major London Exhibition in July 2025 alongside some of the most notable practices in the world. The top 250 shortlisted works will also receive 180 Day PRO D5 Render Licences, Affinity V2 Universal Licences and international publication!
Enter your best works for the opportunity to be recognised amongst the top creative talents around the world.
Free to Enter
A fully inclusive and truly accessible initiative; open to all, no matter your background or experience
“Inclusivity and accessibility are at the heart of the Awards’ mission. We are very proud to host the Awards rightfully recognising talents without fees or barriers.” - Archisource
London Exhibition
Top works will be exhibited in London amongst the very best creatives and notable global studios
Coming to The Truman Brewery 10th - 19th July 2025, the London Exhibition 2025 is a major celebration of creativity and a unique collection of the best creative minds and future thinkers. Hear from thought leaders at our evening talk series and be inspired by top studios showcasing their design process, alongside the top works from the Awards that are pushing boundaries in visual representation and creative imagery
Submit your works for the chance to be featured alongside some of the most notable architectural practices from around the world
£125,000+ IN PRIZES
Hundreds of opportunities to win from creative software to full creative studio set ups
The ultimate studio set up including HP ZBook Firefly 16” G11 Mobile Workstations and HP Z2 G9 Mini Workstation Intel® Core™ i7 with OMEN by HP 27” QHD Gaming Monitors from HP, software licences from SketchUp, D5 Render, Affinity and MicroStation, giant stationery bundles from LEUCHTTURM1917 and Winsor & Newton, timeless furniture from Vitra and more for the ultimate studio set up!
The top 250 shortlisted works will receive 180 Day PRO D5 Render Licences and Affinity V2 Universal Licences
INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION
Top works will be published in the internationally available Ideas Pocketbook 2025 and Archisource social media channels
In addition to the opportunity to see your work displayed in the major London Exhibition alongside notable architecture and design studios, there is global publication to be won within our upcoming printed publications and across our digital platforms
WIN THE ULTIMATE STUDIO SET UP WITH SOFTWARE, CREATIVE TOOLS + STUDIO ESSENTIALS
This year we are collaborating with an exciting collection of partners to offer some amazing prizes including; D5 Render 180 Day PRO Licences and Affinity V2 Universal Licences to the top 250, HP ZBook Firefly 16” G11 Mobile Workstation with Intel® Core™ Ultra 7, HP Z2 G9 Mini Workstation Intel® Core™ i7 with OMEN by HP 27” QHD Gaming Monitors and accessories from HP, 12-month Subscription to SketchUp Pro, bespoke trophies in collaboration with Smile Plastics and 12 Month Subscription Licences to MicroStation. As well as a massive array of sketchbooks from LEUCHTTURM1917 and giant stationery bundles from Winsor & Newton, lighting designs by Tala, timeless furniture from Vitra as well as headphones by AIAIAI, Huion pen displays, sustainable designer bags by QWSTION and an amazing array of creative books from Thames & Hudson!
All Shortlisted Entries Will Receive 180 Day Pro D5 Render + Affinity V2 Universal Licences
We are proud to be collaborating with D5 Render and HP for the Drawing of the Year Awards 2025. D5 Render and HP Z Workstations inspire creatives on their journey to keep evolving, providing industry-leading real time visualisation tools that empower the creative process and powerful hardware that is designed for creative and technical professionals. Together, D5 Render’s innovative solutions and HP’s high-performance Workstation portfolio can drive creativity and efficiency in complex, multi-software workflows.
HP is also offering special promotions throughout the Drawing of the Year. Check out the special promotions at your local store below.
6 award categories
The six main Awards, categorised by creative process, recognise works across all mediums, styles and purposes. The works are judged by the expert panel on: originality of approach, style and/or content; use of media and the graphic and aesthetic quality; ability to represent and communicate intent or narrative; extent of impact and proposition. All submitted works are entered into all the categories.
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The Beyond Visualisation Award 2025 is brought to you in partnership with Hayes Davidson
Awarded to those who are pushing the boundaries of visualisation and embracing the creative possibilities of new tools and emerging technology. Using ‘What if…” as a starting point for creativity, the award recognises those that demonstrate innovation not just in the creative interpretation of the tools they use to shape more imaginative representations, but also in the application of creative solutions to address evolving industry challenges.
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The Digital Drafting Award 2025 is brought to you in partnership with Bentley’s MicroStation
Awarded to a standout representation of exemplar quality demonstrating excellence across 2D / 3D digital drafting. This award recognises all types of drawings and this genre seeks to find the most accomplished drawings across all produced through the creative process of 2D / 3D CAD, BIM to other digital drafting software in any style.
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Awarded to an outstanding drawing which excels within the field and process of digital media. The Awards spans all types of drawings and digital mediums recognising standout works across illustrative, collage, to digital hand drawings created in any style, showcasing those that have truly excelled with their approach to digital media production and digital creative approach.
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The Hand Drawn Award 2025 is brought to you in partnership with LEUCHTTURM1917 and Winsor & Newton
This Award recognises the technique and process of exemplary hand drawing skill. The category spans works created across physical (analogue) and digital media methods where hand techniques have been fundamental to the creative process. The award recognises the most accomplished visual hand communicators and those that have achieved great levels of representation through hand drawn techniques.
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Awarded to a standout representation of exemplar quality demonstrating excellence of craft and representation across multiple media from physical (analogue) to digital media. This award recognises all types of representations and seeks to award those that have achieved captivating visual creations that bridge between two or more media methods.
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The Visualisation Award 2025 is brought to you in partnership with Trimble SketchUp
Awarded to a standout visualisation of exemplar quality. The award recognises the most accomplished visualised imagery that excels as key mechanisms for representation. The judges will assess imagery holistically with particular focus on composition, lighting, atmosphere, materiality and narrative. The purpose of this award is to celebrate visualisations as a fundamental tool within creative industries and to showcase their power in conveying ideas, narratives and proposals.
MEDAL categorieS
New for 2025, standout works will be recognised for specific skills and attributes through the Medal Categories. Individual Medals will have their own specific judges and will receive physical Medal Commendations made in collaboration with Smile Plastics as well as 180 Day PRO D5 Render licences, Affinity V2 Universal Licences and international publication.
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The Affinity Award 2025 is brought to you in partnership with Affinity creative software
Recognising standout works created using the Affinity creative suite as key software within the creative process. The Award spans all types of drawings and digital mediums recognising standout works across illustrative, collage, to digital hand drawings created in any style, showcasing those that have truly excelled with their use of Affinity creative software.
This medal will be selected by the Affinity creative team.
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“We strongly believe that creativity incites creativity. We need creativity and creative thinkers to shape a more interesting world.” - Archisource
The Creativity Medal recognises standout works and makers that are pushing boundaries in innovative representations, to designs with originality and creative flare.
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Recognising standout works which demonstrate approaches, agendas or design awareness to the environment. Judges will be recognising those that display exemplar qualities in their environment design approach to its social, human and sustainable impact.
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Judged by Narinder Sagoo MBE, Art Director, Senior Partner at Foster + Partners
The Hand Skill Medal recognises works that demonstrate outstanding skill in hand communication and exemplar hand drawn techniques. The judge Narinder Sagoo MBE wants to recognise the ‘power of the pen’ and the importance of hand drawing as a fundamental skill within the design process.
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Recognising standout works which demonstrate approaches, qualities to agendas that centre around designing for positive human experiences.
The Humanity Medal has been created to build awareness of how users feel in the built environment recognising social impact, design interest, experiential characteristics, awareness of the impacts to users, to the emotive and creative qualities translated through design.
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Recognising outstanding works which excel in conveying strong narratives and wider dialogues through its medium and beyond its visual representation. The award recognises the most accomplished visual story-tellers, those that have achieved great levels of communication through critical, subtle or emotive visual narratives.
ALL SHORTLISED ENTRIES WILL RECEIVE AFFINITY V2 UNIVERSAL LICENCES
Shortlisted works will receive licences to the award-winning graphic design, image editing and page layout software used by architects around the world including Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2 and Affinity Publisher 2 for Mac, iPad and Windows PC
2024 EXPERT JUDGING PANEL
The expert judging panel for the 2024 Awards included creative practitioners and industry experts each with unique knowledge and experience of architecture, design and image creation. The judges continue to be inspired by the level of quality, talent and creativity submitted year on year and are exciting to see works pushing the boundaries of representation for 2025.
The 2025 expert judging panel will be revealed in the coming months!
Narinder Sagoo MBE
Art Director, Senior Partner at Foster + Partners
Sam Hudson
Art Director, Senior Artist at Hayes Davidson
Will Jefferies
Associate at RSHP
Eliza Grosvenor
Head of Programme at London Festival of Architecture
Agata Murasko
Architect at Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Mansel Haynes
Co-Founder, Architect at Archisource
Emily Glynn
Co-Founder, Architect at Archisource
AWARDS TIMELINE
1ST FEBRUARY 2025 - 20TH APRIL 2025
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The submission process closes at 23.59 GMT on the 20th April 2025. No entries will be accepted after this date - so don’t miss out!
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The expert panel of judges will meet from April to May 2025 to review all the submissions and select the top works - good luck!
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Visit the annual London Exhibition revealing the hundreds of the top works selected from the 2025 Awards alongside the creative process of top studios and design installations at The Truman Brewery. Full details to be revealed soon!
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Following the winners announcement at the London Exhibition, the Winners + Finalists will be published across our channels and showcased on our winners website throughout July to August 2025.
The shortlisted entries will also be notified.