HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Awarded to a standout representation demonstrating excellence in hand drawing. This Award recognises all types of hand produced drawings, whether digital or analogue, and seeks to identify the most accomplished works created through the creative process using drawing methods in any style. The Award celebrates the craft and skill of communicating through the hand.

The Awards are in collaboration with HP, Intel® and D5, who are creating tools that actually tackle our most complex workflows, empowering us as architects and designers, and Affinity who is giving true creative freedom that’s actually free

WINNER OF HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Sava Nikolic

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

HIGHLY COMMENDED FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Blind Spots: The Right to Rest by Siha Salim

Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, United Kingdom

This 1:20 detail section explores how Blind Spots contests labour exploitation within platform-based food delivery systems through a self-sustaining food ecosystem centred on care, recovery, and collective ownership. The drawing reveals how retained brickwork, a lightweight steel frame, and prefabricated timber pods create spaces for rest, welfare, food production, and social exchange. Tracing the transition from public realm to collective kitchens and welfare spaces, it highlights moments of encounter between riders, entrepreneurs, workers, and the wider community. The detail demonstrates how overlooked urban spaces can be transformed into shared civic infrastructure that prioritises wellbeing, economic agency, and community resilience.

COMMENDED FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

The Walled City by Satya Wira

Universitas Tarumanagara, Indonesia

This work is inspired by the iconic Quarry Bay building in Hong Kong, using a traditional drawing method with a 2-point perspective, using cross-hatching techniques. This work is made entirely using ink and pen.

COMMENDED FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Exploded-view Drawing of St Mark's Hamilton Terrace by Benxing Liang

Kingston University, United Kingdom

St Mark's, a Gothic Revival church in London, was damaged in 2023. In this drawing, the "surfaces, blemishes and undulations" of the façade are recorded,  showing the richness of tactile, typology and history hidden in ruins.  Windows, Venetian Salviati mosaic destroyed in fire, and historic plans in the 1840s, 1860s, 1910s, and 1950s were shown.

For the drawing, I first built a digital model in Rhino. Then printed with 10% transparency on A2 sheet. Mechanical pencils and pens were used to add details, which took 50 hours.

SPECIAL MENTION FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Tales of Chulia Street by Jia Ying Lim

Yale University, United States

Beneath the glow of makeshift stalls and the scatter of plastic stools, this drawing unfolds the living theatre of Chulia Street, one of Penang’s oldest roads. Through a double-oblique plan, it bridges my interests in food, art, and architecture, peering into the vibrant hawker culture that transforms streets and interstitial spaces into informal realms of gathering. Within these layered scenes emerge narratives of everyday Malaysian life, from communal dining to world-renowned hawkers, carrying the flavors, rituals, and multicultural exchanges that shape the everyday identity of Penang.

SPECIAL MENTION FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Salvation by Kamal Bhatt

India

Amid the rubble and ruins of the past, the statue stood with a serene look to it. The wings spread out looking like she's shielding the remnants from more destruction.
As the shadow clings to shattering columns, she remains  drenched in lights, promising a refuge to all. Even in decay, she reminds the world that something sacred endures.

SPECIAL MENTION FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

A Palimpsest of Aberdeen by Thura Sit Thway, Wong Chun Tin & Wong Si Si

University of Hong Kong

This A0 drawing was a systematic investigation of the movement and temporal duration of various daily activities observed at Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong. Functioning as a visual framework, it represents the sequences of these activities through a superimposition of orthographic projections (plans, elevations, axonometric views) that collectively document the intangible cultural traces of Aberdeen's architectural palimpsests. The overall narrative of the drawing is structured around the fishing community's worship of Tin Hau, with the scale of each activity depicted in proportion to the time allocated to each phase of a fisherman's life.

SPECIAL MENTION FOR HAND DRAWN AWARD 2026

Sake Neko by Dustin Wheat

United States

I recently watched a documentary on the process of making sake. It was so well choreographed that I was inspired to design a brewery. Sake breweries are typically long, horizontal buildings, however, I was interested in seeing how a vertical section could potentially reorganize the workflow more efficiently. I started by diagramming the process of making sake. There are 10 stages, each one is labeled with a short description.

While drafting, I started thinking about working cats in factories, which led me down a rabbit hole of Googling cats in Japan, where I discovered cat cafes and that “cat” translates to neko. From that moment on, I had a concept and a name: Sake Neko.