Every day we see many competition announcements, and each one of them has different scales, topics, requirements, awards, etc. For some of them, you need to pay; others can be free to join. But why we should do that and put an effort, we are going to talk about that today.
Imagine in normal conditions, let’s suppose that you are a student, you have your own projects at school and as a design student, it’s not so difficult to imagine the intensity of your schedule. Let’s think on the other side, you are a professional, you have many clients, many projects which are waiting for deadlines, meetings, revisions, etc. Why are you going to push yourself for more? Here comes the reasons why;
Discipline
Doesn’t matter in which side of the architecture you are at, you need to be a disciplined person, you need to know how to manage your time. In competitions, dates matter. You need to study the brief correctly because you should know that there is always a particular date for questions. After that moment you can’t ask anything about it. If you miss one point about the brief, all of your work can become trash, so it’s crucial to be strict on it.
Sometimes they can give the layout and ask you to submit in that way.
You can’t deliver missing drawings. Well, you can submit maybe, but they are not going to take into consideration for sure.
Learning about the procedure improves your formal skills, even if you don’t realize it.
Experience
The more you create, the more you grow. In each project, you will reach the next level. Topic or brief can push your limits, better. You should join to get experience and see in which level you are. It makes you understand on which parts you should focus on and improve yourself. If you win, that can be a bonus!
Network
The people or the companies that organize competitions are from the design field for sure, as jurors. Even if you don’t get an award, the end of the day, your work can get attention by a few jurors, and thus, if they remember your name, it’s a great advantage for the future. Also try to memorize the jurors, the scenario can be the reverse, and in the future, you can meet them face to face, and competitions can be the bridge between you and them!
If you get an award, your name will be published as a winner and remember, there are many offices in the same competition, and there are many people who are following the competitions even if they don’t join.
CV
The offices care about the competitions; in fact, it is a side income for them. Because of that, they are mostly looking for people they can create a team with. If you have an experience, you have the chance to get selected.
Chance to Enlarge your Vision
Remember, many people, offices will join the same competition, and for all of you, there is only one brief. End of the process, after announcements, you get a chance to see other projects. Thus, you can understand their perspective. Maybe they think something that you can never imagine. In this way, your vision will extend, and you will start to see things differently.
I mentioned above only five reasons why we should join competitions, as far as I am concerned there are many other reasons. The biggest reason why people prefer not to join is because they focus on awards and think that they can’t win. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is not about win or lose. It’s all about getting experiences and taking risks. If you don’t focus on winning but focus more on the project, you win.
Last but not least, I would like to invite you to join Moooarch’s Iso[nation] Competition. Illustrarch is taking part in this competition as a media partner, and I will be there as a juror!
You can enter the competition by making any small donation. All entry fees we receive will be donated towards WHO to save lives. You can find more info here.
