One of Johannesburg's great iconic and much-loved Art Deco theatres, the Colosseum was demolished in 1985 despite campaigns by concerned citizens. The Colosseum has become a symbol of the tremendous loss of past heritage that the city has suffered.

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Poster from the Save the Colosseum campaign

Many of our significant iconic landmarks have been preserved, restored, and retrofitted by Activists such as Herbert Prins. Their campaigns have ensured that there is now, more than ever, greater awareness of the value of cultural heritage. The Colosseum Award was established by Herbert's efforts to recognise and celebrate initiatives to conserve the cultural heritage of Johannesburg. A floating trophy was created by celebrated artist Cecil Skotnes (1926-2009).

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The Trophy

Herbert Prins (1927-2020) will always be valued for his activist stance, contributions, and ongoing commitment to the heritage of Johannesburg and to other parts of South Africa. He practised as a Heritage Architect and academic for more than 72 years until just a few of months before his death. These Memorial Awards are thus also in memory and recognition of his lifetime of work.

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Herbert Prins

Call for entries

GIfA calls for the submissions of nominations for The Herbert Prins Colosseum Memorial Awards to celebrate the heritage achievements of the past decade since the last Colosseum Awards of 2012. 

The Awards wish to recognise and to celebrate outstanding contributions towards the conservation of heritage in the greater area of Gauteng. These would be for projects successfully completed between 2012 to 2022 and which celebrate:

• The conservation, commemoration or adaptive reuse of buildings, places or spaces, completed by the public or private sector or through public-private partnerships
• Campaigns or other efforts to rescue endangered heritage buildings, objects, or sites
• Research or Publications in the field of the Heritage of Gauteng

Awards

The Jury may decide upon any number of Awards of Merit. The overall winner will be bestowed an Award of Excellence. The winning entries will be announced and exhibited at the GIfA AGM in November 2022 and at other venues throughout 2023.  

A Jury will be nominated by GIfA and announced shortly. The panel will evaluate nominations, and shortlisted projects will be visited/interviewed to determine winning entries.  

Eligibility and categories

The Awards will recognise efforts directly aimed at the conservation, commemoration and restoration of heritage buildings, objects, sites, and records

The Awards shall be eligible for consideration in the following categories:

1. Buildings or Structures: Residential, Commercial, Institutional, Industrial (including Mining), and Religious. Buildings or places need not be graded heritage sites, and there is no age stipulation for buildings with a new use.
2. Public monuments and memorials.
3. Historic settlements.
4. Parks, gardens, and trees.
5. Vernacular architecture.
6. Historical sites of conflict and/or liberation struggles.
7. Archaeological, palaeontological, and geological heritage.
8. Tangible aspects of inherited culture, including the holistic approach to nature, society, and social relationships.
9. Academic or like research that furthers knowledge in the field of heritage studies and conservation.
10. The education of the public and the creation of public awareness of heritage matters, both in written and visual form.
11. Journalism directed to the heritage resources of Gauteng.

​​​​​​​Submissions

Entries can be submitted by any member of the public, architects, academics, property owners /developers or their representatives. The same individual or entity may submit more than one entry.

Entries before 2012 will not be eligible. Projects that have been entered for either a GIfA, PIA, SAIA or other Awards may also be nominated.

All submissions shall be made, electronically, on the prescribed entry form.

In the case of projects involving conservation, commemoration, adaptive reuse, research, or publication submissions are to include a letter from the owner giving consent to the nomination and to the conditions of entry.

Nominations for projects completed during 2012-2022 must be accompanied by the following:

1. A non-refundable entry fee of R1400 to assist in defraying costs.
2. An A4 brochure containing:

• A copy of the submission form.
• A complete list of all professionals / consultants and contractor/s and a brief description of the project (not to exceed 300 words).
• A brief comment on the project from the user or client (not to exceed 300 words) together with their consent to inspect the site / work.
• Sufficient scale drawings, photographs, and project summary to adequately illustrate and to inform the project and its context. These must be represented in A1 poster format (not to exceed 2 posters)

Entrants may include in their submission any materials that will support their nomination - this may consist of the history, plans, drawings, photographs, articles, videos, letters of support etc. The Jury may request further details if required.

• Deadline - Monday 22 August 2022
• For more information about the Awards, contact the GIfA offices directly or at executivemanager@gifa.org.za
• To RSVP / Submit please contact: membership@gifa.org.za and marketing@gifa.org.za