The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).^[1] The Stirling Prize is presented to "the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year". The architects must be RIBA members. Until 2014, the building could have been anywhere in the European Union, but since 2015 entries have had to be in the United Kingdom. In the past, the award included a £20,000 prize, but it currently carries no prize money.

The award was founded in 1996, and is considered to be the most prestigious architecture award in the United Kingdom. The Stirling Prize replaced the RIBA Building of the Year Award.^[2]

The Stirling Prize is the highest profile British architectural award, and the presentation ceremony has been televised by Channel 4.^[3] Six shortlisted buildings are chosen from a long-list of buildings that have received a RIBA National Award. These awards are given to buildings showing "high architectural standards and substantial contribution to the local environment".

In addition to the RIBA Stirling Prize, five other awards are given to buildings on the long-list. In 2015 they consisted of: the RIBA National Award, the RIBA Regional Award, the Manser Medal, the Stephen Lawrence Prize and the RIBA Client of the Year Award. For years prior to 1996, the award was known as the "Building of the Year Award".

In 2000, several architects from Scotland and Wales made claims of metropolitan bias after five out of seven designs shortlisted by judges were located within London. Critics described the list as "London-centric". The chairman of the judges in the contest rejected the claims, saying that the first Stirling Prize was awarded to a building in Salford, Greater Manchester.^[4]

On 30 September 2020, RIBA announced that the awards had been postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5][6] Judges selected the 2021 prize winner from the 2020 shortlist.^[1][7]

Laureates and runners-up

As the RIBA Building of the Year Award

Year	Winning work
1987		St Oswald's Hospice, Newcastle upon Tyne, by Jane and David Darbyshire[8][9]
1988		Truro Crown Courts, Truro, Cornwall, by Evans and Shalev[2]
1989		Nelson Mandela Primary School, Birmingham, West Midlands, by William Howland[10]
1991		Woodlea Primary School, Bordon, Hampshire, by Nev Churcher and Sally Daniels[11]
1993		Sackler Galleries, London[12]
1994		Waterloo International railway station, London, by Nicholas Grimshaw[13]
1995		McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield by Populous[14]

As the Stirling Prize

Year	Laureate	Winning work		Nominees and works
1996	Stephen Hodder[15]		Centenary Building, University of Salford, Salford
1997	James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates		Stuttgart Music School, Stuttgart, Germany	Will Alsop for Hotel du Département des Bouches-du-Rhône, Marseille, France Mark Guard for roof-top apartment, Paris, France Richard Murphy for Maggie's Centre, Edinburgh Richard Rogers Partnership for Paul Hamlyn Learning Resource Centre, Thames Valley University, London Chris Wilkinson for Stratford Market depot, Jubilee line, London
1998	Foster and Partners[16]		Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire	Rick Mather Architects for a private house, London Ian Ritchie Architects for Crystal Palace Park Concert Platform, Crystal Palace, London Ian Taylor with Bennetts Associates for Richard Attenborough Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester Stephenson Bell for Quay Bar, Manchester (demolished in 2007) Inskip and Jenkins for Temple of Concord and Victory (restoration), Stowe, Buckinghamshire Günter Behnisch for St Benno School, Dresden, Germany Günter Behnisch for Landesgirokasse, Stuttgart, Germany David Chipperfield for an office and studio building, Düsseldorf, Germany Norman Foster and Partners for Commerzbank HQ, Frankfurt, Germany Colin St John Wilson for British Library, London[17]
1999	Future Systems[18]		Lord's Media Centre, London	David Chipperfield Architects for River and Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire Benson & Forsyth for Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Alsop, Lyall & Störmer for North Greenwich tube station, London Chris Wilkinson Architects for Jubilee Line Extension Project, London Wilford Associates for Sto AG Marketing and Training Building, Stühlingen, Germany Foster and Partners for Reichstag, Berlin, Germany O'Donnell & Tuomey for Ranelagh Multi-Denominational School, Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland[19]
2000	Alsop & Störmer[20]		Peckham Library, London	Caruso St John for New Art Gallery Walsall, West Midlands Norman Foster and Partners for Canary Wharf Station, London Marks Barfield for London Eye, London Richard Rogers Partnership for 88 Wood Street, City of London Sauerbruch Hutton for GSW Headquarters, Berlin, Germany Chetwood Associates for Sainsbury's Supermarket, Greenwich, London[21]
2001	Wilkinson Eyre Architects[22]		Magna Centre, Rotherham, South Yorkshire	Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, Anthony Hunt for Eden Project, Cornwall Eldridge Smerin for The Lawns, Highgate, London Jeremy Dixon Edward Jones for National Portrait Gallery extension, London Guy Greenfield Architects for The Surgery, Hammersmith, London Michael Hopkins & Partners for Portcullis House and Westminster Underground Station, London Michael Wilford & Partners for British Embassy in Berlin, Germany[23]
2002	Wilkinson Eyre Architects & Gifford[24]		Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Gateshead	Malcolm Fraser Architects for Dance Base, Grassmarket, Edinburgh Edward Cullinan Architects for Weald and Downland Gridshell, Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, West Sussex David Chipperfield Architects for Ernsting's Service Centre, Coesfeld-Lette, Germany Building Design Partnership for Hampden Gurney Church of England Primary School, London Richard Rogers Partnership for Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London Benson & Forsyth for Millennium Wing, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland[25]
2003	Herzog & de Meuron[26]		Laban, Deptford, London	Bill Dunster Architects for BedZED, Hackbridge, London Eric Parry Architects for 30 Finsbury Square, London Foster and Partners for Great Court, British Museum, London Ian Ritchie Architects for Plymouth Theatre Royal Production Centre, Plymouth Sutherland Hussey Architects with Jake Harvey, Donald Urquhart, Glen Onwin and Sandra Kennedy for Tiree Shelter, Inner Hebrides, Scotland[27]
2004	Foster and Partners[28]		30 St Mary Axe, London	Studio Daniel Libeskind for Imperial War Museum North, Trafford Park, Greater Manchester MacCormac Jamieson Prichard with Rummey Design for The Phoenix Initiative, Coventry Foster and Partners for Business Academy, Bexley, London Ian Ritchie Architects for Spire of Dublin, Ireland Peter Cook, Colin Fournier for Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria[29]
2005	EMBT & RMJM[30]		Scottish Parliament building, Edinburgh	Bennetts Associates for Jubilee Library, Brighton Zaha Hadid for BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany Foster and Partners for McLaren Technology Centre, Woking O'Donnell & Tuomey for Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland Alsop Designs for Fawood Children's Centre, Harlesden, London[31]
2006	Richard Rogers Partnership[32]		Barajas Airport Terminal 4, Madrid, Spain	Adjaye Associates for Whitechapel Idea Store, London Hopkins Architects for Evelina Children's Hospital, London Caruso St John Architects for Brick House, London Richard Rogers Partnership for Senedd (Welsh Assembly building), Cardiff Zaha Hadid for Phaeno Science Centre, Wolfsburg, Germany[33]
2007	David Chipperfield Architects[34]		Museum of Modern Literature, Marbach, Germany	David Chipperfield Architects for America's Cup Building, Valencia, Spain Office for Metropolitan Architecture/Arup-AFA for Casa da Música, Porto, Portugal Foster and Partners for Dresden Station Redevelopment, Dresden, Germany Glenn Howells Architects, for Savill Building Visitors' Centre, Windsor Great Park, Windsor Haworth Tompkins for Young Vic Theatre, London[35][36]
2008	Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks Architects and Maccreanor Lavington[37]		Accordia housing development, Cambridge	Grimshaw/Arcadis for Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA station, Amsterdam, Netherlands Denton Corker Marshall for Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Manchester Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher for Nord Park Railway, Innsbruck, Austria Allies and Morrison for Royal Festival Hall, London Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for Westminster Academy, London[38]
2009	Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners[39]		Maggie's Centre, London	Tony Fretton Architects for Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Lolland, Denmark Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for Bodegas Protos winery, Peñafiel, Spain BDP for Liverpool One Masterplan, Liverpool Eric Parry Architects for 5 Aldermanbury Square, London Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for Kentish Town Health Centre, London[40]
2010	Zaha Hadid[41]		MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome, Italy	David Chipperfield for Neues Museum, Berlin DSDHA for Christ's College, Guildford Rick Mather Architects for Ashmolean Museum, Oxford dRMM for Clapham Manor Primary School, London Theis and Khan for Bateman's Row, Shoreditch, London[42]
2011	Zaha Hadid[43]		Evelyn Grace Academy, London	O'Donnell & Tuomey for An Gaeláras, Derry, Northern Ireland Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for The Angel Building, London David Chipperfield Architects for Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany Bennetts Associates for Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Hopkins Architects for The Velodrome, London[44]
2012	Stanton Williams[45]		Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge	David Chipperfield Architects for The Hepworth, Wakefield O'Donnell & Tuomey for Lyric Theatre (Belfast), Belfast OMA for Maggie's Centre, Glasgow OMA with Allies and Morrison for New Court, London Populous for Olympic Stadium, London[46]
2013	Witherford Watson Mann Architects[47]		Astley Castle, Nuneaton, Warwickshire	Grafton Architects for the medical school at University of Limerick, Ireland Hawkins/Brown with Studio Egret West for Park Hill, Sheffield Alison Brooks Architects for Newhall Be, Essex heneghan peng architects for Giant's Causeway Visitors' Centre, Antrim, Northern Ireland Niall McLaughlin Architects for Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College Cuddesdon, South Oxfordshire[48]
2014	Haworth Tompkins[49]		Everyman Theatre, Liverpool	Mecanoo for Library of Birmingham, Birmingham Zaha Hadid for London Aquatics Centre, London Renzo Piano for The Shard, London O'Donnell & Tuomey for Saw Swee Hock Student Centre at LSE, London Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for Manchester School of Art, Manchester[50]
2015	Allford Hall Monaghan Morris[51]		Burntwood School, Wandsworth, London	Niall McLaughlin Architects for Darbishire Place, Whitechapel, London Reiach and Hall Architects for Maggie's Centre Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Scotland Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for NEO Bankside, Bankside, London heneghan peng architects for University of Greenwich Stockwell Street Building, Greenwich, London McInnes Usher McKnight Architects (MUMA) for Whitworth Art Gallery extension, Manchester[52]
2016	Caruso St John Architects[53]		Newport Street Gallery, Vauxhall, London	Herzog & de Meuron for Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Oxford Loyn & Co Architects for Outhouse (private residence), Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire Michael Laird Architects & Reiach and Hall Architects for Riverside Campus, City of Glasgow College, Glasgow, Scotland dRMM Architects for Trafalgar Place housing, Elephant and Castle, London Wilkinson Eyre Architects for Weston Library, University of Oxford, Oxford[54]
2017	dRMM[55]		Hastings Pier, East Sussex	Groupwork + Amin Taha for Barrett's Grove housing scheme, Stoke Newington, London Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, London Reiach and Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects for City Campus at the City of Glasgow College, Glasgow Baynes and Mitchell Architects for Command of the Oceans display at Chatham Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent 6a architects for Photography Studio for Juergen Teller, London[56]
2018	Foster + Partners[57]		Bloomberg London	Waugh Thistleton Architects for Bushey Cemetery, Bushey, Hertfordshire Henley Halebrown for Chadwick Hall, University of Roehampton, London Jamie Fobert Architects with Evans & Shalev for the new build at Tate St Ives, Cornwall MUMA for Storey's Field Community Centre and Nursery, North West Cambridge Niall McLaughlin Architects for The Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, Worcester College, Oxford[58][59]
2019	Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley[60]		Goldsmith Street council housing, Norwich	Matthew Barnett Howland with Dido Milne and Oliver Wilton for Cork House, Berkshire Grimshaw Architects for London Bridge station, Southwark, London Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for The Macallan distillery and Visitor Experience, Moray, Scotland Witherford Watson Mann Architects for Nevill Holt Opera, Leicestershire Feilden Fowles for The Weston, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Yorkshire[61]
2020	Award postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic[62]
2021	Grafton Architects[63][64]		Kingston University Town House, London	Marks Barfield for Cambridge Central Mosque Ney & Partners and William Matthews Associates for Tintagel Castle footbridge, North Cornwall Carmody Groarke for Windermere Jetty Museum Stanton Williams for Key Worker Housing, Eddington, Cambridge Amin Taha for 15 Clerkenwell Close, Islington, London[65]
2022	Niall McLaughlin Architects[66]		The New Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge	Hopkins Architects for 100 Liverpool Street, London Reiach and Hall Architects for Forth Valley College - Falkirk Campus, Scotland Henley Halebrown for Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road, London Panter Hudspith Architects for Orchard Gardens, Elephant Park, Elephant and Castle, London Mæ for Sands End Arts and Community Centre, Fulham, London[67]
2023	Mæ[68]		John Morden Centre, Morden College, Blackheath, London	Apparata for A House for Artists, Barking, London Adam Khan Architects for Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing, Camden, London Witherford Watson Mann Architects for Courtauld Connects, Westminster Sergison Bates for Lavender Hill Courtyard Housing, Clapham, London Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for University of Warwick Faculty of Arts, Coventry[69]