UPDATE TO RULES: The qualifying "age" criteria for the Design Awards has been relaxed from the last 5 to the last 10 years. This means that nominated buildings, building renovations, landscapes and public art projects must have been completed after 1 January 2000, rather than 1 January 2005 as originally specified.

The people of Marple and district are being urged to open their eyes and look around their community for good things in design. Marple Civic Society, supported by The Review newspaper and The Marple Website, is organising a major Design Awards project, which will run for a full year. The organisers are not interested in the bad and the ugly. They are concerned with good design in:

1 BUILDINGS - new, refurbished, or with major alterations and extensions (shop fronts, for instance).

2 URBAN LANDSCAPING - anything from a park to the surrounds of a factory or offices, a school or even a churchyard.

3 PUBLIC ART or street furniture - things like statues in the street, carvings in the park, or beautiful decorative improvements to our daily environment like the examples shown below:

The most important rules of the Awards is that nominated work must have been completed after 1 January 2000 and nominations must be submitted by 1 September 2010.

THE DESIGN AWARDS ARE ALL ABOUT acknowledging and promoting good design in the community in terms of architecture, art and urban design and landscaping. By identifying sites and buildings, showing them on-line, in the local  press, at the Civic Society AGM and an exhibition. By involving the public and professionals to make nominations that lead to the award winners being chosen.

Winners of the three major categories will be announced in a year’s time at the annual general meeting of the Civic Society in March 2011. Between now and then, the Marple area is going to be looked at as never before. Critical eyes will discard the dull, the mediocre and the ugly and seek out the designs that have style with function, looks that should last into another era, artwork that can inspire future generations.

Architect Colin Fox, a member of the group organising the Design Awards, said: “We would love it if hundreds of people came forward with nominations - people of every age and every background. Of course, we want to involve the professionals, who create the designs. But mostly we want the people’s views, especially youngsters still at school or college to take part - after all, they have to live with the designs for years to come.”

The public involvement will include nominating good designs and, later in the year, they will also play a key role in choosing the winners. You will be able to vote online at the Civic Society web site, here on The Marple Website, by post and through local access points. All nominations, from public or professionals, must be in by 1 September 2010. The winter edition of The Review in 2010 will carry details of the short-listed nominations, with the voting procedure. An exhibition at Marple Library in early January is planned, when pictures and information on the short-listed nominations will be on show. There will also be a voting box in the Library.

The winners will be selected by public votes and the choices of a panel of experts and Civic Society members. The public and the panel will each have 50 per cent of influence in the final decisions. If there is a tie in any category, the chairman of the Civic Society will have the final decision. So, get looking! Read the category details carefully and follow the instructions below. 

WHO CAN NOMINATE?
Everyone can make nominations - public or professionals working in the design field. The awards will be based on entries from people throughout the Marple area. All sites must be within Marple, Marple Bridge, High Lane, Mellor, Compstall and Strines. You can nominate in as many categories as you wish but you don’t have to nominate in every category unless you choose to.

Site and building owners and their architects and designers: entries can be submitted by either the owners or the designers with the owner’s permission.

YOUR NOMINATIONS
Each entry must have a description of the nominated site, a photograph if possible, its address, location and the name and address of the owner and the designer.

From these nominations, a shortlist will be prepared to go forward to the final selection by public vote. Assessments of all nominations will be undertaken by a group appointed by the Marple Civic Society. Details of the shortlist will be published in the winter edition of The Review, after which public voting will start.

Nominees of short-listed projects will be provided with a display board by the Civic Society for them to prepare for an exhibition in Marple Library in January 2011.

Names of the award-winning projects will be announced in Spring 2011, followed by a presentation to the owners.

WHERE TO SEND NOMINATIONS
Nominations should be submitted before 1 September 2010 using the form below. Projects being nominated must have been completed after January 2000. Although the closing date for entries is 1 September 2010 we ask that you enter as soon as possible.

PDF version of nomination form

MS Word 2000 version of form

Your completed nomination forms should be posted or emailed to:

Marple Civic Society Design Awards,
c/o Adrian Taylor,
8 Peacefield, Marple Stockport
SK6 7QQ
or email to