2025 Design Awards
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 

KEY DATES

• Registration Opens: Friday, April 4, 2025
• Registration Deadline: Friday, May 16, 2025 
• Submission Deadline: Friday, June 6, 2025 
• Exhibition Board Due: Friday, August 22, 2025
• Design Awards Celebration: Thursday, September 4, 2025

FEES

All fees are non-refundable. Please review eligibility prior to registering for awards. This fee must be paid online at the time of registration. Each Design Awards entry may also include a Divine Detail entry as well. Refunds will not be given for entries that are disqualified, late, or incomplete; credits will not be given for future submissions.

• AIA Central Valley – Member: $325
• AIA Central Valley – Member, Small Project: $225
• Other AIA Component* – Member: $450
• Other AIA Component* - Member, Small Project: $350

*Other AIA component members: submitted projects must be built within the AIA Central Valley 17-county area.

A non-refundable entry fee for each submitted project must be paid online at the time of registration. Registration is due on May 16, 2025. 

ELIGIBILITY

AIA Central Valley Members: Submitted projects must be designed by an AIA Central Valley architect member in good standing and may be located anywhere in the world.

Other AIA Component Members: Submitted projects must be designed by an AIA architect member in good standing and must be located within the AIA Central Valley 17-county area.

All Submissions: Must not have received an AIA Central Valley Design Award in the past. Projects must be designed and built on or after January 1, 2020.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with AIA and AIA California – and expanding on the Framework for Design Excellence, AIA Central Valley will use the Common Application (known as the Common App.) There are some performance metrics on the Common App that some projects may not have available. For this inaugural year, missing metric info will not negatively impact your submission but may benefit a high-performing project.

Submission platform: Registration and submissions will be completed via Submittable at https://aiacv.submittable.com/submit. Entries are due by 11:59 PM on June 6, 2025.

Each completed submission package must follow these guidelines. Your entry will be disqualified if it fails to comply with the following requirements:

• Complete the registration form as well as the entry form's Equity Commitment question and file uploads
• Full Project Portfolio (PDF, landscape and widescreen format – 16:9)
• Completed Common App (Excel)
• Representative Image (JPG)
• Does Not Reveal Firm Name or Architect

Once you register, AIA Central Valley will email you the Common App and some additional resources. If you would like to receive this information before you register, just email us at info@aiacv.org and we'll email it to you.

CATEGORIES

In addition to awards designated Citation, Merit and Honor, special recognition awards will be considered by AIA Central Valley’s Academy of Architecture (AAH), the Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) and Committee on the Environment (COTE) within the submitted projects. The program also includes a Divine Detail Award; any submitted project may also submit for Divine Detail consideration at no additional cost. NEW THIS YEAR: the People’s Choice Awards! Voting will begin August 1; all details will be shared with submitting architects/firms, our members, and AEC network at that time.

Select which category your  project falls under. While a Design Award is not given based on category, projects with the same category will be considered together.

• Adaptive Reuse, Renovation or Historic Preservation: Renovations of existing buildings, renovations or preservations of existing buildings, historic preservation of building with a historic background, or buildings where the original intent has been transformed for a new purpose
• Mixed-Use: Buildings with commercial and residential properties
• Single Family Residential: Any residential space intended for one family
• Multi-Family Residential: Any residential space intended for two or more families. This category should not include university dorms, hotels, or any other commercial, institutional or education project
• Institutional/Education: Hospitals, medical centers, all types of schools, universities, and campuses
• Large Civic Projects: Courthouses, law enforcement facilities, and community centers
• Commercial: Hotels, large corporate offices, and retail spaces
• Interior Architecture: Tenant improvements and any project where the interior of a built project has been updated and enhanced
• Small Project, Object: Projects under $500,000 fabrication and installation budget. This could include an art sculpture or art installation
• Small Project, Structure: Projects under a $1,000,000 construction budget. This could include a pool house or accessory dwelling unit
• Unbuilt: NEW THIS YEAR… Unbuilt projects of any type are eligible, including purely theoretical projects and unbuilt client-sponsored projects, but projects under construction or otherwise assured of construction are ineligible

EQUITY COMMITMENT

Architecture is important in building communities. In alignment with AIA Central Valley’s goals and values, please respond to this question within the Submittable Entry & Upload Form:

• What does your project do to promote equity? Please provide further context about the benefits to the existing community.

PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES

Submitted in PDF format, landscape and widescreen format (16:9 or 13.333 incles wide by 7.5 inches high. No more than 8MB and 13 pages. No firm name. Preferred file name: 2025_DA_Project Name

• Page 1: Cover Page with Project name and location (Do NOT include firm name anywhere in PDF)
• Page 2: Project Summary
• Page 3: A readable site plan with north arrow clearly indicated
• Page 4: At least one floor plan, but no more than two
• Page 5: Project sections and/or elevations
• Page 6: Include at least one sustainable design strategies diagram with a brief description of strategies used
• Pages 7 - 13: Project Photos

Notes re. photos:

• Must be clear and concise, with a high resolution, Limit of four (4) photos per page,
• No renderings or concepts – except for Unbuilt Category projects,
• Recommended to include at least one picture of the project within the surrounding area (for context),
• For the adaptive reuse/historic preservation category: must include a minimum of one before and one after      picture (preferably side by side on one page), and
• For the interior architecture category: must include at least one exterior picture (to provide context to the project's surroundings.)

Must be clear and concise, with a high resolution, Limit of four (4) photos per page, No renderings or concepts – except for Unbuilt Category projects, Recommended to include at least one picture of the project within the surrounding area (for context), For the adaptive reuse/historic preservation category: must include a minimum of one before and one after picture (preferably side by side on one page), and For the interior architecture category: must include at least one exterior picture (to provide context to the project's surroundings.)

COMMON APPLICATION

AIA Central Valley is aligned with AIA's Framework for Design Excellence with the integration of 10 key principles into the award program requirements. While California leads the nation with the implementation of zero carbon standards and codes, the Framework identifies specific metrics to evaluate buildings that illustrate progress toward a zero carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.

AIA Central Valley’s Design Awards follows AIA's Design Excellence criteria using the Common App. Submittals are encouraged to highlight project performance through narratives and metrics in the Common App.

When completing the Common App, pay particular attention to Measure 6, Design for Energy and be sure to provide the correct EUI information. EUI information can be obtained from energy models or LEED (or similar) documentation. If Title 24 Compliance documentation was used, see the instructions and calculator for calculating site EUI from Title 24 compliance documentation.

AWARDS

The Jury has the discretion to recognize all projects with any of the following awards Honor, Merit and Citation. Past projects awarded within the AIA Central Valley Design Awards program may not be submitted again, regardless of award level. 

Award recipients and non-recipients will be notified in late July. An award celebration will be held on Thursday, September 4, 2025. Please save the date!

Questions? Please contact info@aiacv.org
Thank you for participating!