Younger architects (those under 40) have two months to prepare submissions for the latest Europan competition (organised here by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).

Europan involves some 20 European countries coming together to organise a competition every two years in architecture and urban design. It is organised by the same rules in each country and with a common theme - Europan Urbanity.

Real sites are made available by local authorities or private clients for the competition. Here, Dublin City Council and Cork City Council (with support from the Department of the Environment) are providing the sites.

The competition rules require that each study site has two components - a strategic urban problem related to the theme and a realisable architectural project, including housing, on a clearly defined part of the site. Europan and the national organisers do their best to ensure that the site owners offer a realistic chance of commissioning the winners to build the winning scheme.

Entries will be judged in each country by a jury of nine, which must be multi-disciplinary and contain at least three foreign members.

The jury may not include members who have direct connections with the site commissioning body.

Since the first Europan competition in 1990, many schemes have been realised and a large number of young architectural firms who have participated are now internationally known. Visit www.europan.ie for more details.