UNESCO Asia-Pacific awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation

The UNESCO Office in Bangkok is calling for entries for the 2008 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation, reports UNESCO Cluster Office in Almaty.

The awards programme, in its ninth year, recognizes the achievement of individuals and organizations within the private sector, and public-private initiatives, in successfully restoring structures of heritage value in the Asia-Pacific region.

Projects involving buildings more than fifty years old and which were completed within the last ten years are eligible for consideration. Houses, commercial, cultural, religious, industrial or institutional buildings, gardens and bridges, for example, are all eligible for consideration. Public-private partnership projects such as historic towns, urban quarters and rural settlements where the essential elements are more than 50 years old are all eligible.

In addition to the established awards the “Jury Commendation for Innovation”, introduced in 2005, will also be judged. The commendation recognizes newly-built structures which demonstrate outstanding standards for contemporary architectural design which are well integrated into historic contexts.

Entries for the 2008 awards programme must be submitted with an official entry form, drawings, photographs and project description to the UNESCO Office of the Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok. Complete programme information, including an entry form, is available on the web at http://www.unescobkk.org/culture/heritageawards.

Winners will be announced in September 2008, with a selected number of entries receiving the “Award of Excellence”, “Award of Distinction”, “Award of Merit”, “Honourable Mention” and “Jury Commendation”.

The deadline for receipt of materials is 31 March 2008.