At a festive gathering at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture in November, the winners of the KuiperCompagnons Graduation Awards organised by Blauwe Kamer were announced.

Among the masters category, Diederik Vane of the Rotterdam Academy won. The second prize went to alumnus Kasper Neeleman for his park design in an old quarry near Maastricht. The jury called it a classic landscape project, but so beautifully and skilfully elaborated that it immediately convinces administrators, so to speak, to build such a park.

Tessa Schouten - also from the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture - received an honourable mention for her project on the painful war past of the island of Alderney. The jury called it an intriguing project, evoking confusion, questions and discomfort. Its cinematic imagery leaves you 'hanging' without really getting a grip on what exactly it represents.

The KuiperCompagnons Graduation Awards organised by magazine Blauwe Kamer were presented for the sixth time this year. The jury - chairman Gijs van den Boomen, DG Ruimte Marjolein Jansen and Delft alderman Martina Huijsmans - saw two approaches reflected in the graduation projects (especially the master category). On the one hand, graduates who use their imagination to contribute to the 'puzzle' of major tasks and transitions that we have to solve in cohesion. On the other hand, graduates who use their fascination and imagination mainly to arrive at concrete design interventions, tangible places 'where you could go'.