The shortlist for Stirling awards

The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

The RIBA Stirling Prize is awarded to "the architects of the building which has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year." The architects must be RIBA members, but the building can be anywhere in the European Union. Stirling Prize winners receive a prize of £20,000.

Buildings need to enter and win an RIBA Award for architectural excellence in order to be judged for the RIBA Stirling Prize. The RIBA Awards are announced in May each year and are judged by a regional Jury. A separate jury is then created to form the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist. The winner is announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize Dinner, held in early October each year.

Previous winners have included Maggie’s Centre, London, Gateshead Millennium Bridge and The Museum of Modern Literature. With new and intriguing buildings springing up more frequently these days, the pressure is on for the architects in the running.

The shortlist for 2011 has already made its way onto the news, with architects sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for the results to be announced in early October. This year's venue is Magna Science and Adventure Centre, 2001 winners of the Stirling prize.

However we do not have to wait for the results to be published in the newspapers- the ceremony will be broadcast on a special edition of BBC Two's The Culture Show, presented by Kevin McCloud, from Grand Designs.

The shortlist for 2011 includes these two architectures:

Evelyn Grace Academy- Evelyn Grace had a complex brief: four schools under a single academy umbrella and the consequent dichotomy of having to express both independence and unity. Curiously for a school whose speciality is sport, the site lacks any opportunity for significant outdoor sport but the architects have responded with guile and intelligence. The project is distinguished by its planning not its form of expression; its saltire plan solving the multiple demands of site and usage in a manner that seems effortless.

Internally the academy is a functional modern school, with occasional spatial moments as reminders that this is real architecture, though not in any way at the expense of utility or value. And it makes kids run to get into school in the morning - what free school is going to do that?

The Velodrome- Quietly located to the north of the Olympic master plan, the Velodrome exudes an aura of elegance and simplicity. The very form of the building signals the track: a continuous, sinuous shape that seems to explain the movement of the event itself.

The building is made of three elements: the concourse, the plinth and the roof. The glazed concourse separates the curve of the larch-clad roof soffit and the concrete and landscaping of the plinth. The plinth contains all the service areas and the entrance.

The cable net roof seems to hang in space detached from the ground, sitting low over the track, adding drama and focus to the event.

The £4.5m facility, which includes everything from sport arena heating systems to a variety of meeting rooms, was built by the London Development Agency (LDA) for community and competition use, to replace the former East way Cycle Circuit which made way for the site of the London 2012 VeloPark.

The building is a consummate exercise in a simple idea, beautifully, efficiently and gracefully carried out.

The current 6/4 favourite, according to bookmakers William Hill, is the Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, in Denmark, by Tony Fretton Architects.

However previous years have shown unexpected results- only time will tell who the winner is.