MARCH Awards 2026
Competition Brief
The MARCH Awards 2026 is an open international architecture and design competition organised by March Materials, a European digital platform that describes itself as a visual sourcing engine for sustainable construction materials. The competition invites architects and designers to submit built projects that blend sustainable, local, and bio-based materials, with eligibility limited to projects based in Europe and the United Kingdom. The 2026 edition carries a total prize pool of €8,000 distributed across eight jury prize categories and additional people’s choice and secret prizes.
March Materials operates as a material discovery and inspiration platform with over 31,000 registered users. The competition is structurally linked to the platform: shortlisted and winning projects receive lifetime visibility on the March platform, positioning the awards as both a recognition programme and a content acquisition mechanism for the platform’s material reference library.
Intent
The competition focuses specifically on the material dimension of architecture: each submitted project must list up to five sustainable materials used in its construction. The brief frames this as a contribution to making sustainable construction “the new normal,” positioning material transparency and advocacy as the competition’s core purpose rather than formal or spatial achievement alone. The awards sit across two typological tracks — New-built and Adaptive Reuse — each further divided by building size into four scales: Micro (up to 50 sqm), Small (51-100 sqm), Medium (100-500 sqm), and Large (over 500 sqm).
Purpose
Shortlisted submissions are published on the March platform and gain lifetime exposure on the material sourcing engine. This means the competition functions simultaneously as an awards programme and as a method for building the platform’s database of material references tied to real built projects. The combination of recognition, material documentation, and platform visibility distinguishes the March Awards from more conventional recognition-only programmes. Winning and shortlisted projects contribute directly to a searchable resource used by architects, designers, and clients sourcing materials for new projects.
Requirements
Projects must be built and located in Europe or the United Kingdom. Each submission must document up to five sustainable materials used in the project. Submissions are made through the March platform at app.marchmaterials.com. The competition is open to architects and designers of all career stages and nationalities, provided the project itself is European or UK-based. There is no restriction on when the project was completed. Full brief is available for download at marchmaterials.com/competition-brief.
Jury
- Martha Lewis — Head of Materials, Henning Larsen
- Anna Graaf — Head of Sustainability, White Arkitekter
- Werner Schoenthaler — Managing Director, Hanfstein
- Olaf Grawert — Co-founder and Managing Director, HouseEurope!
- Jade Serra — Architect and Partner, Slow Studio
- Renée Verhulst — Architect and Partner, Hé! Architectuur
- Stefan Gramespacher — Managing Director, Hessler Kalkwerke
- Michela Quadrelli — Architect and Partner, Christoph Hesse Architects
- Adrian Labaut — Founder, PFAALL Foundation Magazine
- Marie Roels — Co-founder and CEO, MARCH
Registration Fees
| Registration Tier | Deadline | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Early Entry | 7 April 2026 | Free |
| Regular Entry | 20 April 2026 | €39 |
| Late Entry | 30 April 2026 | €49 |
Early entry (free) closed on 7 April 2026. Regular entry at €39 is available until 20 April and late entry at €49 until 30 April 2026. All fees are in euros.
Prizes and Rewards
| Category | Size | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| New-built | Large (over 500 sqm) | €1,500 |
| New-built | Medium (100-500 sqm) | €1,000 |
| New-built | Small (51-100 sqm) | €1,000 |
| New-built | Micro (up to 50 sqm) | €500 |
| Adaptive Reuse | Large (over 500 sqm) | €1,500 |
| Adaptive Reuse | Medium (100-500 sqm) | €1,000 |
| Adaptive Reuse | Small (51-100 sqm) | €1,000 |
| Adaptive Reuse | Micro (up to 50 sqm) | €500 |
| 8 Honourable Mentions | 1 per category | Platform publication + lifetime visibility |
| 3 People’s Choice Awards | Public vote (1 vote/day for 1 month) | Secret prize (revealed on social media) |
| All shortlisted | — | Published + lifetime exposure on MARCH platform |
Total cash prize pool is €8,000. People’s Choice secret prizes are not disclosed in advance. Platform visibility is a meaningful non-cash benefit given March’s 31,000+ user base.
Key Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Free early entry deadline | 7 April 2026 |
| Regular entry deadline (€39) | 20 April 2026 |
| Late entry deadline (€49) | 30 April 2026 |
| Public voting period | 1-31 May 2026 |
| Winners announcement | 15 June 2026 |
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The MARCH Awards 2026 occupies a genuinely distinctive position in the current architecture awards landscape. Its explicit focus on material documentation rather than formal achievement alone reflects a serious and timely engagement with the direction that sustainable construction practice is moving: away from broad green claims toward the specific, traceable, and communicable material choices that define a building’s environmental performance. The requirement to list up to five sustainable materials per submission is a low-threshold but meaningful condition that ties the award to actual practice rather than aspiration. The jury is well-constructed for this specific brief, balancing architectural practice with materials expertise, sustainability consultancy, and industry knowledge across Henning Larsen, White Arkitekter, HouseEurope!, Slow Studio, and Hé! Architectuur. The geographic restriction to Europe and the UK is a limitation for a global audience but is logically consistent with the platform’s current user base and the material sourcing context. The free early entry tier is a genuine access point, and the €39 regular fee is reasonable. The prize pool of €8,000 across eight categories is modest in absolute terms but proportionate for an emerging awards programme in its second year. The platform visibility benefit is potentially more valuable for practices than the cash prizes, given that a searchable publication linked to material specifications reaches an active professional audience rather than a general one. The People’s Choice secret prize structure is the competition’s weakest element: undisclosed prizes reduce the ability of participants to assess the full value of entering before committing. Overall, the MARCH Awards represents one of the more coherent attempts to connect architectural recognition with material practice and construction transparency currently active in Europe.
Final Thoughts
The MARCH Awards 2026 is a free-to-enter (until 7 April), materials-focused European architecture competition with €8,000 in prizes across eight categories covering new-built and adaptive reuse projects of all scales. Late entry at €49 closes 30 April 2026. Submit at app.marchmaterials.com and download the full brief at marchmaterials.com/competition-brief. Contact: info@marchmaterials.com.
Registration Deadline
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