Shivangini Singh, a ninth semester B. Arch student of Faculty of Architecture, Manipal University bagged the National Award for Excellence in Architectural Thesis-2016 and JK AYA best architecture student of the year award. Organised by the Council of Architecture (COA) and conducted by the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Architecture (NIASA), the competition is designed for students from across all architecture colleges in the country. It is an annual event held to identify the best thesis projects in India. 
The competition aims to showcase student designs to create a better appreciation of architectural designs and to create public awareness and promote architecture as a subject. The award carries a prize money of Rs 75,000. Three undergraduate students are awarded every year. The two other winners this year were from Sathyabama University Chennai and Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai. 

Shivangini’s thesis was on the Children’s Home for Girls, Rae Bareli, UP. The thesis was first presented at the zonal level to public in exhibition halls. Ten of the entries were then selected by the zonal jury for the next round after the author made an audio-visual presentation to the jury, general public and students in a public hall. The competition narrowed down to two entries for the final round. Once again the author made a presentation to the jurors of the final round and also present were students and architects. The three winners were announced later the same day. 

“I was thrilled when I heard my name and that of FOA, Manipal University being announced as the winner!” “This achievement has established the credentials of the Institute as Center of Academic Excellence for architectural education in India,” said Shivangini. “The teachers and peer students at FOA are the best one can have for learning architecture. Encouragement to explore and expand your horizon, to step into realms of the extraordinary, is what FOA ensures,” she added. 

“It is a great achievement and a well-deserved one for Shivangini. Her efforts have always been praiseworthy and we are sure she will scale many more heights in her career,” said director of FOA, Nishant H Manapure. “It is a great moment that our student has been recognised as the best at the highest level of academics in the whole country. We are happy for her,” he added. 

This is the third big achievement for FOA this year. In June, Vinod Anthony Thomas and Vishnupriya Viswanathan brought laurels. Vinod had clinched the second prize in an all India competition organised by the Railways to design toilets and Vishnu had clinched the first prize in the 18th Annual Berkeley Prize Essay Competition under the “International Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence” endorsed by Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, USA.