Fondazione Frate Sole - Costantino Ruggeri International Thesis Award

Costantino Ruggeri International Thesis Award

You receive a 4,500 EUR scholarship that pays for an internship at an international architecture firm. The prize goes to a master's thesis on the design of a new Christian church. The internship places you inside a working studio so you can build on that thesis. In the 2023 edition the winner worked at Meck Architekten in Munich. The award is run by the Frate Sole Foundation in Pavia, Italy, named after Father Costantino Ruggeri, a Franciscan artist who designed 30 churches. It is awarded every two years.

Who can apply

• Degree: You hold a master's degree (second-level degree) in architecture or engineering.
• Your thesis topic: Your degree thesis designs a new Christian church. It should show how you arrived at the design, how the building fits its social and community setting, and how the space works for church services.
• Where you studied: You can be a graduate of any university in the world, not only European ones.
• Nationality: Any nationality can apply.
• How you graduated: You can have written the thesis on your own or as part of a group.
• Timing: You must have obtained your master's degree within the edition's set window. For the 2023 edition this was between 1 January 2020 and 15 April 2023.

How to apply

You submit your project through the online form on the foundation's thesis-prize website. Include the drawings and written material that explain your design. A selection committee made up of the foundation's scientific board and local architecture bodies reviews the entries and publishes the results on the foundation's website.

How realistic are your chances?

This award is cut very narrowly: only master's theses on the design of a new Christian church qualify, so the eligible group is small. Past editions drew around 300 entries from architecture faculties worldwide, so it is a single, contested prize rather than a broad grant. If your thesis fits the church-architecture brief precisely and is strong on the artistic and liturgical side the committee weighs, you have a real shot.