“Wish You Were Here” Archtober Postcard Competition

What is your ideal public space in New York City—real or imagined? A neighborhood park, alive with music and conversation? A perfectly timed train transfer hub? A floating library?

For Archtober’s 2025 Postcard Competition, in tandem with this year’s festival theme, Shared Spaces, we’re asking New Yorkers to delve deep into the common areas that shape our lives. Submit your vision in the form of a postcard, featuring the phrase “Wish You Were Here.” The expression conjures place, memory, and longing—a space worth sharing. Whether it’s an art museum that feels like home or a waterfront that offers some respite, we want to see the public spaces that you would invite us into.

Three winning designs will be selected by the jury and announced in late September. For the first time since last year’s inaugural postcard competition, the selected postcards will be printed in the fall issue of Oculus magazine! They will also be distributed at the Center for Architecture throughout the month of October 2025, and each receive a cash prize of $500. All are invited to submit—architects, illustrators, design enthusiasts, etc. Authors must be 18 years or older and reside in the five boroughs, or attend an educational institution based in New York City.

A plaza, a pier, a park that doesn’t exist yet… where would you send us?

• Postcard designs must be sized to 4” x 6” to qualify for USPS First-Class Mail 
• The text “Wish You Were Here” in any language or style must be on the front of the postcard.  
• Submissions should provide a design for the front of the postcard only. Design title and author credits will be printed on the reverse. 
• Please submit your design as a PDF with a standard bleed of .125″
• Deadline: Tuesday, August 12, 5pm ET 

• Authors must be 18 years or older and a resident or student (graduate or undergraduate) in NYC’s five boroughs
• One submission is permitted per author, regardless of whether you are submitting as an individual or a firm.  
• All are invited to submit—architects, illustrators, design enthusiasts, etc.  
• AI generated images and graphics are not eligible
• Otherwise, all media are accepted

• $500 cash prize 
• Postcards will be printed and distributed at the Center for Architecture throughout the month of October 2025
• The winning postcards will be featured in the upcoming fall issue of Oculus magazine
• 3 winning designs will be selected by the jury and announced in late September