Graduate awards and competitions

Emerging Engineers Award

The competition is open to all ICE graduate and student members with papers on any area of engineering design, research or practice. Papers have to be expertly presented and discussed, as well as be innovative and well written.

It's an excellent chance to practice your writing and presentation skills – perfect preparation for a viva or Professional Review. It'll also raise your profile, help promote your university or employer, and give you the opportunity to have your paper published. Competitors can also win money - £250 in most regions - and there's another cash prize and the the prestigious Institution Medal for the overall winner.

Competition heats take place across ICE’s regions and the winning papers are short-listed by the international judging panel. Three top finalists are then invited to present their papers at the international final.

Graduate members (GMICE) can adapt papers from professional development or Professional Review reports.

Student members can adapt a university project or thesis which should preferably be based on your own work.

How to enter

Contact your Regional Support Team to find out about submission dates and prizes for your regional finals.

You can find full competition guidelines on the entry form which you’ll also need to complete and send in with your entry.

What if my ICE region does not run a competition?

If your region doesn’t run a competition, why not set one up? You can find out everything you’ll need to know from our Emerging Engineers Award regional guidance document:

Download the guidance document

To find out more about the Emerging Engineers Award please contact awards@ice.org.uk

Graduate and Student Communications Competition

This team competition promotes the importance of effective communication among ICE's younger members. Competitors need to use all their engineering and inter-personal skills to win over the judges and audience with a public presentation. This is based on an imaginary civil engineering project which will affect a local community.

Teams are made up of three to five student or graduate ICE members with no more than seven years industry experience each (10 years for student technician members). There are conditions of entry which will explain who is eligible to enter this competition.

Competition format and key dates

The competition has three rounds – regional heats, semi-finals in various locations in the UK and a national final held at ICE's headquarters.

Each team will need to create a professional presentation about their civil engineering scheme and produce promotional leaflets for the project. The audience play the role of local residents in the competition rounds, and as the engineers proposing the scheme, you must tell them about the benefits and persuade them to support it. Find out what teams are expected to produce for each round of the competition.

Regional heats

Winner from the 2017 regional heats are:

• East Midlands - Watermain Project team
• East of England - Ramboll team
• London and South East England - Atkins Epsom team
• North East - MWH team
• North West - AECOM team
• Northern Ireland - AECOM team
• Scotland - Mott MacDonald team from Glasgow
• Wales - Mott MacDonald team from Cardiff
• West Midlands - Arup (Ove Bridge) team
• Yorkshire and Humber - TSP team from York

Semi-finals

Winner from the 2017 semi-final is:

• Northern Ireland - AECOM team
• Wales - Mott MacDonald team
• Yorkshire & Humber - TSP team

The winners of the semi-finals will then compete at the 2017 competition final which will be held on Tuesday 19 September 2017 at ICE's headquarters in London.

Prizes

• Regional round – winning teams get a £250 prize
• Semi-final – no prize is awarded
• Final – three prizes to be won
  • First prize of £500
  • Second prize of £300
  • Third prize of £200

Supporting documents

• Eligibility criteria and competition format
• Competition's imaginary civil engineering projects
• Judging criteria and guidelines
• Guidelines for organisers

Got a question?

If you've got a question or want more information about the Communications Competition, then please let us know.

e: joyce.chia@ice.org.uk

As a membership organisation and an employer, we value diversity – a foundation for great engineering achievement.

QUEST Continuing Education Award

If you're an ICE member working in the civil engineering industry, and would like get new qualifications to help your professional development, then this award could provide you with financial support of up to £1,500.

The aim of the award is to support members who are returning to study management or technical subjects. It’s not designed to fund courses that will be used as Further Learning in the ICE membership process.

To apply for this award:

• You must be an ICE graduate or professionally qualified member 
• You must have been a member for a minimum of two years
• You must have a minimum of two years’ experience working in the civil engineering industry
• Your course must not be an ICE-accredited further learning programme. Find out if your course is accredited
• You must not have already received more than three ICE QUEST scholarships or awards
• Your application will only be accepted before the start of your course. Student member or PhD students aren't able to apply.

How do I apply?

Applications for 2017 are now closed. Applications for 2018 will open in June 2018.

How are winners chosen?

Applications are assessed by the QUEST Committee and those judged to be strongest receive up to £1,500.

Your application will be assessed on the following:

• The quality of your application
• How much the course will benefit you and your professional development
• The academic merit of the course
• How the course will benefit your employer and ICE
• The amount of financial support required
• The duration of the course

QUEST Foreign Language Award

ICE graduate members who would like to work overseas, or learn a language to help them in their current workplace, could get up to £500 to help them learn a foreign language.

To be considered for the award you need to tell us how the course will help your professional development and benefit you in the future. The aim of this award is to help engineers who are at the start of their career.

To apply for this award you must:

• Be an ICE graduate member and have been a member for a minimum of two years up to making the application (time as a student member counts)
• Be a British citizen and a UK resident
• Have less than seven years’ experience of working in the civil engineering industry
• Not have already received this award or three other ICE QUEST scholarships or awards

How do I apply?

The application period for this award runs from 19 September 2016 to 20 January 2017.

To apply, fill in the application form and send to quest.awards@ice.org.uk by 20 January 2017.

How is the winner chosen?

Applications are assessed by the QUEST Committee and the strongest one receives up to £500.

Entries are judged against the following:

• The quality of your application
• The quality of the course provider
• How much the course will benefit you and your professional development
• The future relevance of the course to you
• The amount of financial support required
• The duration of the course and mode of study

If you win the award, you will need to submit a report of around 1,000 words on completion of your course.

QUEST Travel Award

If you’re thinking about getting some professional experience overseas - by helping out on a local engineering project, for example - you might be able to win a QUEST Travel Award.

Individuals are awarded a maximum of £1,500 and groups up to £6,000.

Previous winners have worked on projects in developing countries, studied and researched local practice, and attended international conferences.

To apply for this award, you must:

• Be an ICE Graduate or professionally qualified member
• You must have been a member for a minimum of two years up to the application (student membership counts)
• Not have already received more than three ICE QUEST scholarships or awards. If you have already received an award, a year must have passed before you can apply again

Only members who meet the criteria can be included on a group application.

How do I apply?

The award is given out twice a year.

Applications for travel between June 2018 – December 2018 will open on 15th January (with a deadline of 23rd March 2018).

How are winners chosen?

Applications are assessed by the QUEST Committee and the strongest will receive a financial award of up to £1,500 for individuals and up to £6,000 for groups.

Your entry will be assessed on the following:

• The quality of your application
• How much the experience will benefit you
• The aims and merit of the project or activity
• How the project or activity will benefit others and ICE
• The amount of financial support required
• The length of time spent overseas
• The relevance of the project and activity to civil engineering

If you're selected for an award, you’ll need to send us a report of around 1,000 words on your experiences, within a month of returning from your trip.