AIANY Design Awards

Friday, November 21, 2025, 5:00 pm
Submission deadline

Monday, January 12, 2026, 6:00 pm
Winners announced at Design Awards Jury Symposium

Friday, April 24, 2026, 11:30 am
Honors and Awards Luncheon at Cipriani Wall Street

Spring 2026
AIANY Design Awards 2026 exhibition on view at the Center for Architecture

Awards may be granted in four categories noted below. Each project is evaluated by the Jury based on the success of meeting its unique project objectives. Submissions should highlight the project’s typology to aid the jurors in their evaluation.

Awards may be granted in four categories:

• Architecture: Recognizes design excellence in completed buildings of any typology.
• Interiors: Recognizes design excellence in building interiors and related architectural work, as well as new and improved approaches to building components and architectural products.
• Projects: Recognizes temporary structures, conceptual work, pavilions, and research including practice management tools that improve design and construction processes. Work in this category does not need to be intended for construction. Projects undertaken for academic credit are not eligible. Competition entries will be considered.
• Urban Design: Recognizes the most compelling work and ideas, both built and unbuilt, that confront and resolve environmental and urban challenges at a scale larger than that of an individual building.

Award levels for all categories:

• Citation: Represents exemplary achievement in a specific aspect of a project.
• Merit Award: Represents distinguished achievement.
• Honor Award: Represents the highest level of achievement.
• Best in Competition: Jurors may select one entry among Honor Award recipients across all categories to receive this unique recognition.

Projects should showcase exceptional skill and creativity in addressing formal, functional, and technical requirements. Submissions are also expected to reflect on the broader impacts of built design, including ecological stewardship and social responsibility. We encourage entries that embrace a broad and inclusive understanding of design excellence. Each submitter must complete the relevant sections of the AIA Common App, which provides an opportunity to highlight a project’s engagement with the principles of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. While the Common App informs the process, it does not determine the outcome. Each project is evaluated by the Jury on how successfully it meets its specific objectives.

Submissions may be exemplary in the following areas (including, but not limited to):

• Best of Typology, demonstrating outstanding achievement in any building type (i.e. education, affordable housing, healthcare, community facility, historic preservation, corporate interiors, high-rise, commercial retail, etc.).
• Technical Advancement, including engineering achievements (i.e. structural, mechanical, transportation, computational, etc.), as well as innovative use of materials and approach to urban systems.
• Innovation and Research, including projects investigating design advocacy, cross-disciplinary research, and public service, as well as pilot projects and theoretical propositions.
• Preservation/Restoration, including the demonstration of exemplary skill, sensitivity, and thoroughness in preservation, restoration, or adaptive reuse and/or the sensitive reinforcement of successful historical development patterns.
• Sustainability, including the demonstration of excellence in ecological stewardship, such as reduced environmental impact and energy consumption, as well as attention to quality-of-life issues, resiliency, and community engagement in the urban environment.

Submission Requirements

• The 16-page PDF is unique to each submission and typically takes the form of a project portfolio, combining visuals and text to highlight key elements. There is no set template or required structure for the content. However, the PDF must follow the formatting requirements outlined below.

  • Submission must be a single PDF file smaller than 25 MB.

  • PDF should be formatted as 11×17, landscape, and no more than 16 pages.

  • All project images for review by the jury should be included as part of the PDF submission. Images included in the PDF must be low-resolution and clearly labeled and/or captioned with descriptive text.

• All submissions must include the Framework for Design Excellence’s Common App available for download here. If you are unable to access the Common App, please email eserrano@aiany.org for a copy.

• If the Common App contains questions that are not relevant to your project, you can leave those questions blank.

• Please check that the uploaded PDF opens and will be viewed as designed.

• Submission uploads (16-page PDF and Common App) must not include any references to architects and designers on any images, plans, narratives, file names, or supplemental materials. Entries that reveal such information will be automatically disqualified.  

• At least three high-resolution, press-ready image with complete credit information (including photographer credits) must be uploaded separately.

• Upon jury selection, winners will be contacted to provide additional images and credits for the exhibition and the Oculus magazine Design Awards issue. Without these materials, projects will not receive proper recognition. Interiors winners will also be required to supply manufacturer and supplier credits.

AIA New York’s annual Design Awards program recognizes outstanding architectural design in New York and around the world. Small- to large-scale and low- to high-budget projects are welcome. Eligibility is determined by factors such as project start date, the submitter’s membership category, and professional status, as outlined below.

What projects are eligible?

• Architecture and Interiors projects must have been completed after January 1, 2021. All completed New York State-based projects must credit the New York State licensed architect of record.
• Urban Design and Projects submissions must have been initiated after January 1, 2021.
• Prior winning projects in any category may not be resubmitted

Category Eligibility

• Architecture: Registered architects only.
• Interiors: Registered architects only.
• Projects: Registered architects, Associate and International Associate AIA members, as well as AIANY Allied Professional and Corresponding members.
• Urban Design: Registered architects, Associate and International Associate AIA members, as well as AIANY Allied Professional and Corresponding members.

Who is eligible?

• AIA New York members who are registered architects are eligible regardless of project location or architect’s residence.
• New York State registered architects practicing in New York City are eligible regardless of the project’s location.
• Work located in New York City designed by any  New York State registered architect is eligible regardless of the architect’s residence, location of primary office or membership status. The registered architect should complete the submission.
• AIA members who are affiliated with local chapters outside of New York City can become AIA New York members by joining as Corresponding members. Visit our membership page for more information.
• Associate, International Associate, and Allied Professional AIA New York members may submit projects in the Urban Design and Projects categories only.

Registration and Submission

The Design Awards submissions process is completely digital. The uploaded 16-page PDF and Common App must remain anonymous. Any references to architects and designers (except for original architect in the case of preservation work) on any images, plans, narratives, file names, or supplemental materials will disqualify a submission.

$225: AIA New York Members (Including registered Architect, Corporate, Corresponding, and Allied Professional members)
$115: Associate AIA and International Associate AIA members
$525: Other registered architects

The architect or firm of record, associate architects, project team, consultants, clients, and general contractor must be credited. Client names will be withheld from publication upon request.

For restoration, renovation, and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, the original architect must be identified.

Submissions done as an employee or consultant must include a release from a principal of the architect-of-record firm acknowledging that the submitting architect had primary design responsibility and that the credits are correct.

AIA New York will publicly announce the winners of the Design Awards at the January 12, 2025, Jury Symposium. All winners will be recognized for their achievements at the Honors and Awards Luncheon on April 24, 2026, at Cipriani Wall Street. Winning projects will be featured in a Design Awards exhibition at the Center for Architecture and will be published in a special spring awards issue of Oculus magazine.

Winning projects will also have the opportunity to enter directly into the 2027 iF Design Award, among the world’s most prestigious design competitions for over 70 years. This cooperation is reserved only for a select number of award programs worldwide, and the AIANY partnership is iF’s first in North America. The partnership points to a mutually recognized history, prestige and rigor. More about the partnership can be found here.

Award recipients shall be notified regarding exhibition materials following the announcement of the winners at the Jury Symposium on January 12, 2026. The AIANY Design Awards 2026 exhibition will open in Spring 2026 and will remain on view through summer.

Q: I would like to submit a project that is in Boston, MA. The project architect is registered as an architect in New York State, is a member of AIA Pennsylvania, and is located in our Philadelphia office. Would this project be eligible for submission to the AIA New York awards program?

A: This project can only be eligible if the registered architect becomes a Corresponding Member of AIA New York. Contact our Membership Team at membership@aiany.org with any additional questions about joining.

Q: Our building won as an unbuilt work in the Projects category in the 2018 cycle of Design Awards. Can we submit this as a completed project for another category in the 2026 Design Awards?

A: No. Prior winning projects in any category may not be resubmitted.

Q: My project was built in Singapore. I am a New York State registered architect with an office in New York City. May I submit my project for the 2026 Design Awards? I am not a member of AIA.

A: Yes. You may submit under the $525 “Registered Architects” fee.

Q: Does the AIANY Design Awards accept unbuilt projects?

A: Yes. These projects are eligible for the Urban Design and Projects categories only.

Q: Our projects are all built in Upstate New York. Our registered architect is a member of AIA New York State. Can we submit our projects?

A: You may submit only if the Registered Architect becomes a Corresponding Member of AIA New York. Contact our Membership Team at membership@aiany.org with any additional questions about joining.

Q: I am an Associate Member. Can I submit work for the Architecture or Interiors categories?

A: You may ask the registered architect who signed off on the project to submit the project and include you/your firm as collaborators. If the RA is not an AIA New York member, the registration fee will be $520; if they are an AIA New York member, the fee will be $225.

Q: Are we allowed more than one image per page in the Submission Upload, or only one image per page with a max of 16 pages?

A: You may have multiple images per page, but individual images smaller than one-quarter of a page are not recommended.

Q: Do I have to include the Common App in my Submission Upload even if it is theoretical and in the Projects category?  

A: Yes, all Submission Uploads must include the Common App as a separate upload. Questions in the Common App that do not pertain to your submission should be left blank.

Q: Can I submit the same project in multiple categories?

A: No. Each project may only be submitted once, in a single category. However, firms may submit different projects across multiple categories. Please note that the Jury reserves the right to reassign a project to a different category if they determine it is a better fit.