Over 20 churches have been shortlisted for the Best Modern Churches architecture competition being run by the National Churches Trust, The Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association and the 20th Century Society.

Judges will select their Top 10 from a shortlist of 20 and award a National Churches Trust Diamond Jubilee Architecture prize to the three places of worship judged to be the best sacred spaces built in the last 60 years.

The awards are to be presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony taking place at his official residence, Lambeth Palace, on 7 November.

The shortlist has been compiled from over 200 churches nominated by members of the public, churches and heritage organisations.

The nominations were for church buildings or significant extensions to an existing building of any Christian denomination in the United Kingdom which opened for worship after 1 January 1953.

The Best Modern Churches competition is being held to mark the 60th anniversary of the National Churches Trust, which has provided over 12,000 grants and loans worth £85 million to help fund the repair and modernisation of Christian places of worship since 1953.

Judges for the awards are: Sherry Bates, President Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association, Richard Carr-Archer, Trustee of the National Churches Trust, Catherine Croft, Director of the 20th Century Society, Jonathan Glancey, writer and architecture critic.

The churches up for awards are:
Our Lady and St Columba RC Church, Wallsend
English Martyrs RC Church, Wallasey
St Mary's RC Church, Leyland
Scargill Chapel, Skipton
St Mark's Church, Broomhill, Sheffield
St John the Baptist Church, Lincoln
St Joseph's RC Church, Leicester
St Paul's Church, Harlow
St Paul's Church, Bow Common
Lumen United Reformed Church, Tavistock Place, London WC1
St Paul the Apostle, Harringay
All Saints Church, Croydon
SS Mary & Joseph RC Church, Poplar
Church of the Ascension, Wembley Park
Abbey Church, Douai Abbey, Woolhampton
Church of the Ascension, Crownhill, Plymouth
Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College Cuddesdon
RC Chapel of St Albert the Great, Edinburgh University
Brucefield Church of Scotland, Whitburn, East Lothian
St Francis Xavier RC Church, Falkirk
St Bride's RC Church, East Kilbride
Kildrum Parish Church, Cumbernauld
Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Steelstown
St Molua's Church, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast