The 5th International LafargeHolcim Awards competition for projects and visions in sustainable construction closed at the end of March 2017. From a total of 5,085 entries by authors in 121 countries, 70% are valid and will be examined by independent juries in five world regions. The winners will be announced in the fourth quarter of the year, where seven Main Awards and four Next Generation prizes carrying a purse of USD 330,000 will be presented in each region.

The claim of the LafargeHolcim Awards to be the world’s most significant competition in sustainable design is underlined by the diversity of entries from across all regions: Asia Pacific counts for roughly one third of all entries, Europe, Latin America and Middle East Africa provided about 20% each, and almost 200 projects were submitted in North America.

The number of valid entries is 40% higher this year with 3,606 projects (2,514 in 2014) from 131 countries to be evaluated by the juries according to the location of the project. Although the overall number of submissions in the Awards was over 6,000 in the last two competition cycles, upgrades to the online entry form have significantly reduced duplicates and partial entries. Countries boasting entry numbers in triple figures are Indonesia (469), India (280), China (162), USA (148), France (127), Mexico (126), Nicaragua (124), Egypt (120), Russia (112), Colombia (106), El Salvador (106), and Algeria (102).

In previous Awards competitions, more entries were received in the Main Awards category than in the Next Generation category for students and young professionals. In 2017, the balance has tipped toward authors 18-30 years of age. This confirms the personal engagement in sustainability of the Next Generation of architects, engineers, planners and construction specialists, particularly in Indonesia (334), India (159), Nicaragua (103), Egypt (87) and China (75) where the most submissions in the Next Generation category were made.

The 5th Awards competition is the first one involving countries that joined LafargeHolcim as part of the merger of the two entities to form the world’s leading building materials and solutions company. This boosted the response to the competition, especially in Middle East Africa with countries contributing far more entries than ever before. Thanks to the support of the Partner Universities, Ambassadors and LafargeHolcim Coordinators of the Awards, the competition also fostered excellent results in other regions: with pronounced growth in entries from El Salvador, Poland, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. A considerable increase in submissions also occurred in the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Morocco, Russia, Serbia, Spain, and Switzerland.

The LafargeHolcim Awards promotes and rewards sustainability in construction since 2003 and is an initiative of LafargeHolcim – providing innovative products and building solutions with a clear commitment to social and environmental sustainability.