In November 2022, Team Vlaams Bouwmeester launched the twelfth edition of the Master’s Test, which has been running for as long as the Vlaams Bouwmeester institute itself. Since 1999, the Master’s Test has aimed to offer young, recently graduated talent the opportunity to carry out a public commission. Tijl Vanmeirhaeghe, Annelies De Nijs and Maud Goossens, who participated in previous editions (in 1999, 2010 and 2019 respectively), reflect on the significance of the Master Test for their design practice and on the value of the instrument for designers and clients in the contemporary architecture sector.

In 1986, Kritak published a collection of short stories entitled Mooie jonge goden (Beautiful Young Gods). According to the publisher, the authors of the selected stories would ‘provide our language area with literature of stature tomorrow’. In the first editions of the Master Test, the winners received a stamp with the quality mark ‘Young Flemish Designer’ as a trophy. Annelies De Nijs (Atelier Horizon), Maud Goossens (Atelier Horizon) and Tijl Vanmeirhaeghe (Havana) agree that such labels should be used with caution. “Students are sometimes very disappointed when they are not selected, while many good designers have not participated in the Meesterproef. It is a privilege to participate in the Meesterproef, but we must be careful not to idolise individual designers,” says De Nijs.