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National Building Museum to reveal Fairy Tale competition winners next month

The short story competition offers architects and other creative types the opportunity to write fictional fairy tale stories

Image from "Welcome To The 5th Facade" by Olson Kundig
Image courtesy of Olson Kundig and Blank Space

On February 6, the National Building Museum and its partner Blank Space will unveil the winners of this year’s Fairy Tales 2017 competition. At the event, the host of NPR’s The Big Listen Lauren Ober will present passages from the winning stories. There will also be an interview with Alan Maskin, principal at Olson Kundig, the design firm that was awarded the top prize in 2016.

In 2016, over 1,500 participants from over 65 countries participated in the competition. This fourth edition of the Fairy Tales competition was open to all architects, designers, writers, artists, engineers, and other creative types.

The requirement for the competition was that the fictional fairy tale story must be between 800 to 1,400 words and must feature five images. The winners will be published by Blank Space in a book that will be sold around the world and in The Museum of Modern Art and the National Building Museum.

The previous first prize winner, Welcome to the 5th Façade, was written by Olson Kundig. Architect Magazine describes the story as a “noirish evocation of Seattle in the near future.”

The event will be located at 401 F Street NW and will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

National Building Museum

401 F Street Northwest, , DC 20001 (202) 272-2448 Visit Website