b'celebrating the bestAward programmes have a special place in our design professions.Antipodeans are known for their innovationa fact no more aptlyThemomentadesignerortheirprojectwinssomething,that displayed than in Graham Lanes award-winning house designed forattracts the attention of the media, she says. And that immediately the OLearys.raises the profile of the profession and the work its doing. Press, TV Innovation and excellence would mean little, however, if that frock,and radio coverage is a great way to make the consumer aware of holiday home, or council playground wasnt displayed through awardscurrent trends and projects. And that leads to a greater consumer programmes that let the rest of the country stand back and admire. appreciation of the importance of good design.When the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) Resene SupremeThe impact of such exposure can be wider reaching, too, she observes. Much architecture or landscape architecture is integral to major civic AwardsforArchitecture2008wereannouncedearlierthisyear, projects, and as these attract interest at government or local body national judging convenor Pip Cheshireof Auckland-based Cheshirelevel, they tend to trigger more works of that quality, which leads to Architectsnoted: We are seeing a great deal more sophistication ina better environment for all.New Zealand design. While solutions are responsive to the demands of New Zealand, they display a true knowledge of world conditionsGood leads to good, and competition constantly prompts designers of architecture. to strive to do better, she says.And participation in a forum like this takes real courage, says JohnWhether its the Architectural Designers NZ, or the National Kitchen Gerondis, sales manager for Resene, which has sponsored theseand Bathroom Association, each sector of the design industry has awards since 1990. its own programme that aims to reward outstanding creativity and professional expertise, and raise wider awareness of just what our In the NZIA Resene Awards for Architecture, were asking architectsdesigners are capable of. These events also challenge the designers to present their work to their peers and to be assessed by them,themselves to consider what theyre doing.and that takes some grit, he says. However, because of just that, This is also one reason why we feel it is important to reward not just Good leads to good, andcompleted projects, but also examples of great planning, and some of those undertakings that never actually get built. Many of these last competition constantly promptsare just too difficult or expensive to execute, but some of the ideas designers to strive to do better. they embody are ground-breaking, says Renee.Awards are an important barometer of the health of the industry as these are true industry awards. They are rigorous and demanding,well. If entry numbers were to drop off year-by-year, or the quality of but theres a feeling that the assessment system is a fair one, andentries significantly decline, this should prompt alarm bells.thats been backed by tremendous growth in participation. And last, but not least, says Renee, such important events attract the And, as he points out, the award results are seen as a validation of theattention of industry professionals in other parts of the world, too.quality of the winning designs. Without this kind of recognition ourThe media attention, the presence of overseas judges, or the elevation achievement of new design benchmarks may well go unnoticed byof our award-winning designs into international competitions, all anyone except the client at the receiving end of the finished project.stimulate the cross-border sharing of ideas. taking in new concepts Thats a key reason why such initiatives are so valuable, says Reneand benchmarking our own against them is how we both validate Davies, president of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architectsour own achievements and move ahead.(NZILA), which has run biannual awards since the early 1980s, also Resenesponsored by Resene. words Rachel Macdonald Half Sea Fog 3\x18'