The Maison de l’architecture du Québec has announced the third edition of its annual MAQ’s Young Architectural Critic Competition.
Conscious of the need there is in Quebec to sustain and stimulate high-calibre critical discourse and architectural writing, the Maison de l’architecture du Québec (MAQ) does its part by inviting students and young writers from all relevant fields (journalism, communications, art history, architecture, design, etc.) to participate in this prestigious annual competition, conducted under the aegis of an expert group of jury members.
MAQ’s Young Architectural Critic Competition gives aspiring journalists, researchers and curators a chance to test their professional potential and put on display their writing and analytic skills. The Francophone winner will see his or her text published in Le Devoir, while the Anglophone winner may be published in Canadian Architect. Winners will also receive a professional fee and will have the chance to refine and rewrite their text with the help of professionals in the field.
The subject of this year’s competition is the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium building in Montreal, designed by Cardin Ramirez Julien | AEdifica Architecture + Design. Registered candidates under and including the age of 34 are invited to visit this building and to write a critical text of 600 to 700 words.
The registration deadline is October 14, 2013, followed by a submission deadline of 6:00pm on November 30, 2013. This year, the MAQ Young Architectural Critic Competition jury is chaired by Roland-Yves Carignan (ex-Chief Information Officer, Le Devoir), and includes Paul Makovsky, editorial director of Metropolis magazine; Suzanne Paquet, professor in the Département d’histoire de l’art et d’études cinématographiques, Université de Montréal; David Theodore, writer and regional correspondent for Canadian Architect; and Sophie Gironnay. Canadian Architect editor Elsa Lam will act as external advisor.