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21 Jan, 2018

UNESCO opens applications for 2018 Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Conservation Awards

BANGKOK, 15 January 2018, (UNESCO News) – Submissions are now being accepted for the 2018 Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

This year’s awards cycle will mark the launch of a three-year partnership with Think City, a Malaysian urban renewal body that will support the programme and host the annual Awards Jury meeting in Penang, Malaysia.

UNESCO Bangkok Culture Unit Chief Duong Bich Hanh said that the partnership reflects the complementary missions of both organizations to promote heritage preservation.

“UNESCO and Think City share common objectives of wanting to promote culture for sustainable development and creating liveable cities through community-based urban regeneration,” she said. “The goal of our Heritage Awards programme has always been to encourage all stakeholders to take pride in and ownership of their heritage and this collaboration reflects that spirit.”

Hamdan Abdul Majeed, Executive Director of Think City, said the organization is “pleased to be able to work with UNESCO to encourage wider understanding about the importance of conservation, particularly of our built heritage.
“Having catalysed over 300 small projects and encouraged community-based urban regeneration in the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site, Think City believes in the power of small. The UNESCO awards recognize community efforts, and widen participation in conservation that will be empowering for ordinary citizens.”

The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation celebrate exemplary efforts by individuals and organizations to restore or conserve structures, places and properties of heritage value in the region. Winning projects demonstrate a thorough understanding of the place, sound technical achievement and significant social and policy impact.

Eligible projects must have been completed within the last 10 years. Houses, commercial and institutional buildings, historic towns and villages, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, for example, are all suitable for entry.

Winners will be announced in early November 2018 in the following categories: “Award of Excellence”, “Award of Distinction”, “Award of Merit”, “Honourable Mention” and “Award for New Design in Heritage Contexts”. The “Award for New Design in Heritage Contexts” is given to newly-built structures that demonstrate outstanding design which is well-integrated into historic contexts.

The deadline for receipt of materials is 15 May 2018.

Entries for the 2018 Awards programme must be submitted to UNESCO Bangkok using an official entry form, a description of the project in the official format, drawings and photographs in hard and softcopy formats.

To apply for the 2018 Awards and for relevant resources, please visit: http://bangkok.unesco.org/content/apply-awards

Since the Awards were established in 2000, UNESCO has received 720 entries from 25 countries. A total of 209 projects have received awards in cultural heritage conservation, while 14 have received the Award for New Design in Heritage Contexts (previously known as the Jury Commendation for Innovation).

Last year, a total of 43 projects from across Asia and the Pacific were submitted for awards consideration, with 16 projects from 6 countries recognized. Three winners came from the New Design category, which marks the highest number since it was launched in 2005.

The 2017 Award of Excellence was given to the Blue House Cluster in Hong Kong SAR, China. The Awards for New Design in Heritage Contexts went to Jingdezhen Ceramic Industry Museum in Jiangxi Province, China; Macha Village, in Gansu Province, China; and the Persian Gulf University – Faculty of Art & Architecturein Bushehr, Iran.

For more on previous winners, please visit: http://bangkok.unesco.org/content/winning-projects

Share the call for entries and join us to promote this region’s precious heritage by using the hashtag #HeritageAwards2018!

Social media package: http://bit.ly/2D2eDv1

Think City is a community-focused urban regeneration organization established in 2009. Its first task was to rejuvenate the World Heritage city of George Town, Penang. Think City works closely with local governments, international agencies and various local communities, building effective partnerships and enhancing capacity along the way.

The partnership for the Heritage Awards builds on long-standing cooperation between UNESCO and Think City in promoting best practices in conservation in the Asia-Pacific region.