The CGarchitect 3Dawards have 4 separate categories: Image, Film/Animation, Interactive and Student. Within the Film/Animation and Image categories, there are also two sub-categories for Commissioned and Non-Commissioned work. It is very important that you submit your work to the correct category to ensure your entry is not disqualified.

Image & Animation/Film Categories

Commissioned Work: This sub-category is meant ONLY for work that has been commissioned by someone who has paid for or otherwise obtained your services to create the piece you are submitting. This type of work is likely to have been created by a professional for some sort of commercial project. This might be in the capacity of a visualization studio, or an in-house visualization artist working on an in-house project. Architectural competitions are considered commissioned work even if payment was not received for the work. If you make significant changes to a commissioned piece that is considered to be complete and those changes are not part of the original project, it must be submitted to the non-commissioned category. (i.e. If you make changes to the piece for a portfolio, you enhance or change the image past what the client originally asked to make it look better etc.)

Non-Commissioned Work: This sub-category is meant ONLY for work that you did for fun, experimental work, practice, pieces you created for a portfolio etc. and you were not paid for the work. If you make significant changes to a commissioned piece that is considered to be complete, and those changes are not part of the original project, it must be submitted to this category. (i.e. If you make changes to the piece for a portfolio, you enhance or change the image past what the client originally asked to make it look better etc.) Anything that does not fit the criteria for Commissioned work should be considered Non-Commissioned.

Interactive/AR/VR/Emerging Technologies

This category is meant for any project that uses interactive technologies to communicate architecture, architectural design or architectural marketing. This category is meant for interactive kiosks, augmented reality, virtual reality, mobile applications, interactive web applications, real-time apps or any new technology (hardware or software) that is used to communicate design and architecture.

Student (Image/Film)

This category is meant for images of film/animation work created by a student as part of their studies or educational program. Even if the work was not specifically required as part of your program, if it was created for a school project, please submit it to this category. If you are a student, but created the work outside of your program and were not specifically for a school project, please submit to the appropriate Non-Commissioned category above.
 
 Works created by students for this category must have been completed entirely by the student. No assistance from school staff or other professionals is allowed other than providing basic general guidance.  Pre-made scenes provided by the school, scenes that are used as part of a teaching plan or curriculum, and scenes that are not an original creation of the student are not allowed. Scenes found to be in violation of these criteria will be disqualified.
 
 In order to submit to the student category, you can not have worked professionally in any field or any capacity where you were being paid to create visualizations, prior to your submission being created. This includes working as an instructor or professor. The sole exception to this rule is paid internships as part of your education. The intent and spirit of this rule are to ensure you have not gained an unfair advantage over other competitors. As a student in this category, you should be a novice to the visualization side of the industry.

Winners are selected based on scoring and shortlisting performed by the panel of expert judges and the Sponsor. Their decision is final and binding.  Shortlisted submissions will be scored on the following criteria:

Originality is scored on all submissions in all categories and counts for 33-50% of the overall score. The CGarchitect 3D Awards have been designed from inception to reward works that elevate and inspire the industry through originality, which is why it heavily contributes to the overall score.  

New to the 2021 awards is the requirement to document all sources of inspiration and influence (including links to the sources being referenced) if your submission is substantively similar to other artistic works regardless of their origin or medium. The following is a non-exclusive list of examples where you must document your sources of inspiration or influence:

If you are unsure, it is better to document influences and references, with links, so our judges can establish the originality of your submission.

If any submission is determined to have substantively borrowed from another artistic work and it has not been documented, all of your submissions will be disqualified from the competition in all categories.

Sponsors will attempt to contact each selected winner, nominee, entrant by email in December 2021/January 2022.
 
Any winner found not in compliance with these Official Rules; will be disqualified and will forfeit the Prize and, at the Sponsor’s sole discretion, an alternate entrant may be selected until the selected entrant meets all the qualifications outlined in these Official Rules and can be declared a winner. The Sponsors will not be responsible for failed attempts to contact a selected entrant. Any prize not collected by March 2022, will be considered forfeited.