Scene of the press conference with the jury members of the Official Participants Awards ("Pavilion Prizes")
(from second from left: Joan Busquets, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Wu Jianmin, Jean-Pierre Lafon, Hong Bin Kang, and Qingyun Ma)
09/07/10 - The first session of the jury meeting for the Official Participants Awards, or the "Pavilion Prizes," at EXPO 2010 was completed today, after 83 pavilions were visited over the course of 5 days this week between July 5th and 9th by a jury that included world-renowned architects, urbanist, BIE officials, and other international personalities.
A long-standing tradition at Expos that was interrupted for a time and reintroduced at EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan, the Pavilion Prizes are given to official participants at the Expo to honor their contributions to the development of each Expo theme and to the education of the public on the messages of the Expo.
During the press conference held at the Media Center of the Expo, Ambassador Wu Jianmin, former and honorary President of the BIE who acted as spokesperson on behalf of the rest of the jury, explained that the Pavilion Prizes consist of 33 awards (statues) given to official participants at the Expo who excel in any of the following three criteria: external design (innovation and appeal of design and of exhibit displays), internal exhibition arrangement (visitor experience and comfort), and theme development (interpretation and expression of the Expo theme as displayed in the pavilions).
Furthermore, the evaluation divides pavilions into four categories: type A (self-built pavilions with surface area equal to or greater than 4000 m2 - 19 pavilions in this category), type B (self-built pavilions with surface area between 2000 m2 amd 3999 m2 - 22 pavilions in this category), type C (self-built and rented pavilions with surface area of 1999 m2 or less - 42 pavilions in this category), and type D (joint pavilions - 114 pavilions in this category).
A gold, silver, and bronze statues are awarded for each criteria in each type.
This time, types A, B, and C pavilions were covered, while the second session of the jury (October 11th to 15th) will cover the remaining type D pavilions. The results will be announced after the second jury session, and the award ceremony will take place on the BIE Day (October 30th), the day before the closing of the Expo.
The press conference was attended by 6 of the 9 jury members: BIE President Jean-Pierre Lafon, BIE Secretary-General Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, BIE former and honorary President Wu Jianmin, leading international architects Joan Busquets and Qingyun Ma, and prominent urbanist Hong Bin Kang.
BIE Secretary-General Loscertales said that the excellent quality of the pavilions at the Expo, which in general have been able to withstand the challenges and pressures imposed by the unprecedencted scale of the operation, has contributed to the success of the Expo.
