Public Policy

Scope

The Moonamal Award for Public Policy will endeavour to recognise excellence in the widest possible terms; celebrating policy’s capacity to enable design which promotes coexistence between humans and the environment. Policies with any scope of impact, national, regional or local may be submitted. Public policies which impact design at any level or scale may be considered, including national and sub-national legislation, plans, strategies and roadmaps. We encourage policy submissions with varied impact-types, including those which incentivise ecological design, regulate design in line with ecological principles, or define frameworks for design which exemplify the award’s core principles.There are no limitations on criteria for type of project, scale, cost or location within Sri Lanka for projects to be considered. 

Eligibility

• National and sub-national laws, policies, plans, strategies, roadmaps, and regulatory frameworks in Sri Lanka (hereafter referred to collectively as “policy”, for ease of reference) impacting and influencing design that facilitates ecological coexistence are eligible for consideration. 

• All projects submitted, regardless of scale or discipline must demonstrate an in-depth and meaningful engagement with the Moonamal Award’s core design principles. 

• Policy solutions must have come into effect or been ratified between 1st August 2016 and 31st July 2026. Policies that have come into effect before 1st August 2026 are not eligible for consideration.

• Applications must be submitted by members of the primary institution(s) responsible for the policy. No trustee or staff of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, no member of the steering committee or judges of the award, or the technical review committee may enter their own work or that of their institution.

How to Apply

All submissions must be made through the online submissions portal. This includes submitting an application form in addition to supporting materials which qualify and demonstrate the design, implementation and effectiveness of the policy.

If online submissions are not possible, contact the Award staff at awards@geoffreybawa.org to make a physical submission. 

Before submitting an application, please refer to the Applications Guidelines below. Applicants who wish to submit multiple projects for the Award must submit only one policy per application. Note that any supporting materials submitted will be retained at the Award archives.

Judging Procedure

The initial submissions will be shortlisted by the judges.

In order to give equal importance to all projects and to facilitate the Jury's task to review them, each project is prepared in a standardised format. The staff of the Geoffrey Bawa Moonamal Award assemble presentation portfolios from materials requested from and prepared by each applicant. The Award staff will examine and study all the materials submitted for each project and may contact the applicants for complementary materials. 

The shortlist shall be published in the electronic and other media.

A review of the shortlisted entries will be conducted by a review committee and will be presented to the jury before the final judging. The judges will then make their final decision which will be announced on 23rd July 2027. The decision of the judges will be final.