On the evening of 16th August, the courtyard at IVS had a mixed gathering of award winners from all over Pakistan, proud parents, faculty and architects for the Academics Award Ceremony organized by the Board of Architectural Education of the Institute of Architects Pakistan (BAE-IAP). Thirty individuals received awards of which two were winners for Graduate Awards, one winner of IAP Kausar Bashir Ahmad Award, twenty three for Mehdi Ali Mirza Awards and four for BAE-IAP Architecture Photography competition. Winners of the newly introduced IAP Faculty Award were also honoured on this occasion.

The ceremony started with the Tilawat of Holy Quran, after which Architect Khadija Jamal Shaban, Chairperson BAE-IAP welcomed the guests and highlighted that this was the first time that BAE-IAP had ogranised a dedicated evening for Award recipients. Previously these would be part of some event of IAP, but this exclusivity acknowledged the importance of education to the Institute. She also briefly touched upon the plans of training and publication of BAE-IAP and build upon the works of her predecessors.

Veqar ul Islam, Director and CEO of Jaffer Business Systems, in his keynote address spun a motivational route to success citing from real life personal experience. This presented the young graduates’ food for thought as they embarked on their career journey.

Architect Murad Jamil and Architect Amir Nazir Chaudhary also spoke on the occasion on IAP-KBA Award and Mehdi Ali Mirza Award respectively with personal anecdotes. Ar. Murad Jamil is part of the founding team of KBA-CARE (Kausar Bashir Ahmad Center for Research, Architecture, Education) and Ar. Amir Nazir Chaudhary past recipient of Mehdi Ali Mirza Award.

It was heartening to see the occasion graced by senior respectable architects and the winners were most happy to receive the Awards from such stalwarts.  IAP Faculty Excellence Awards (IFEA) was presented by Ar. Arif Hasan to Dr. Anila Naeem and Dr. Suneela Ahmed under Senior and Junior categories respectively.

Photography Awards by presented by Ar. Tariq Qaiser and Ar. Fawad Suhail Abbasi; Graduate Award by Ar. Zaigham Jaffery; IAP-KBA Awards by Ar. Murad Jamil and Mehdi Ali Mirza Awards by Architects Amir Nazir Chaudhary, Akeel Bilgrami, Jehangir Khan Sherpao (President, ARCASIA) and Asad I A Khan (Chairman PCATP).

In his closing remarks President IAP Ar. Ali Zafar Qazi congratulated the award winners and appreciated the presence of all the guests. Ar. Farida Abdul Ghaffar has been the convener for IAP KBA, Graduate Awards and Mehdi Ali Mirza Awards and has been managing the process with dedication and diligence since past few cycles.

The event concluded with a round of national songs to commemorate 71st Independence Day of Pakistan and the guests arose to salute the national anthem. The programme was followed by dinner.

S. No.MEHDI ALI MIRZA AWARD RECIPIENTsNAME OF INSTITUTIONPROVINCE
1Nehal FatimaCOMSATS Institute of Information & Technology, IslamabadIslamabad
2Tayyaba RiazCOMSATS Institute of Information & Technology, IslamabadIslamabad
3Mahnoor ShahNational College of Arts, RawalpindiIslamabad
4Mahnoor ShehzadNational College of Arts, RawalpindiIslamabad
5Naqsh HaiderSchool of Art, Design & Architecture, NUST, IslamabadIslamabad
6Shabir AhmadBalochistan University of IT Engineering & Management Science, QuettaBaluchistan
7Aimen Iftikhar AhmedUniversity of Engineering & Technology, PeshawarKhyber
8Noman UllahCECOS University, PeshawarPakhtunkhwa
9Amtul Mateen AyeshaBeaconhouse National University, LahorePunjab
10Ansub Nadeem SheikhCOMSATS Institute of Information & Technology, LahorePunjab
11Fatima NajamNational College of Arts, LahorePunjab
12Laiba HaroonNational College of Arts, LahorePunjab
13Zunaira GulNational College of Arts, LahorePunjab
14Azeem UllahSuperior University, LahorePunjab
15Ayesha IrshadUniversity of Engineering & Technology, LahorePunjab
16Abdul HannanUniversity of Management & Technology , LahorePunjab
17Freeha AfzalUniversity of Management & Technology , LahorePunjab
18Naveen ZamanUniversity of South Asia, LahorePunjab
19Nihan MushtaqCenter of Excellence Art & Design MUET, JamshoroSindh
20Majid IqbalDawood University of Engineering & Technology, KarachiSindh
21Hamdan Ahmed BaigDepartment of Visual Studies University of, KarachiSindh
22Mohaddesse Fatima KhanIndus Valley School of Art & Architecture, KarachiSindh
23Zainab Afzal KhanNED University Engineering & Technology, KarachiSindh