Call for Entries – 57th Cooling Prize Competition
The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to invite Early Career Ground Engineering Professionals to submit posters describing their work on any topic dealing with the engineering behaviour of the ground, whether it be a description of an industrial design or construction project, development of a new piece of equipment, or state-of-the-art research.
The competition is open to all Early Career Ground Engineering Professionals under the age of 35 on the closing date of the submission period.
Entrants must apply via the on-line form and submit a poster (to be prepared using a BGA template) and a brief CV.
The finalists will present their work in person at the Cooling Prize competition event. The winner will be invited to prepare a 2000-word paper for publication in Ground Engineering magazine.
Full rules and eligibility are available HERE on the Cooling Prize page. This page includes the online entry form and poster templates.
Deadline for submissions is midnight on 5 December 2025.
The Cooling Prize competition event will take place in Bristol on 25 February 2026, hosted by the BGA South West Group.
Prizes for the winner include:
- £300 offered by the BGA upon presentation of the paper before 1 October 2026 for publication);
- BGA sponsorship to attend the next European or International Conference on Soil Mechanics the following year (2026), noting that to be eligible to present at the conference you must be aged 35 or under at the time of the conference;
- publication of the winning paper in Ground Engineering;
- a BGA trophy, and much more.