Article
What actually changes when you enter as a student
The criteria do not change. The expectation of budget and access does.
2 min read
Article · February 26, 2026
Students are judged on the same four criteria. What differs is that a juror reading a student entry is not expecting a production budget behind it.
Why students have their own tier
Student work is judged against student work, with the same criteria and a different expectation of budget and access. The point is not a consolation category; it is that a brief answered without a production budget is a different brief.
Enrolment is verified before scoring, and a graduate who entered as a student in a cycle that has closed keeps the record as it stood. The archive states what was true at the time.
What tutors ask us most
Whether coursework counts: it does, if the student made it and can supply the working files. Whether a group project can be entered: it can, with every contributor credited, and the credit list is read.
And whether a piece that did not win is worth entering again: not in the same form. The archive is public, and a jury that has seen a project once will read a resubmission as a resubmission.
Read this next
The criteria, the tiers and the six phases are set out in full under Awards. If a point here matters to an entry you are preparing, that is the page that governs it - this one only explains it.
