Celebrate Excellence in Puerto Rican Architecture
AIA Puerto Rico proudly presents the 2026 Design & Honor Awards
November 21th, 2026
Join us on November 21th for the AIA Puerto Rico 2026 Design & Honor Awards Ceremony, held as part of the AIA Puerto Rico Annual Convention. This recognition honors the architects, projects, and collaborators who elevate the built environment, advance design, and contribute to the theoretical development of our profession. Don't miss the opportunity to celebrate the best in local design, innovation, and architectural impact.
Admission to the awards ceremony is included with your Convention registration.
Save the Date
- Date: November 21th, 2026
- Location: The Condado Plaza + Hilton Garden Inn
- Time: 6:00P.M. - 10:00P.M.
Get your ticket here.
Now in its 51st edition, the Design & Honor Awards continue to recognize the excellence and impact of architecture in Puerto Rico.
Ready to submit your application? Here’s What You Need to Know
All Applicants wishing to submit one or more projects for consideration for the 2026 AIA PR Design & Honor Awards program must register the project(s) and pay any applicable fees before the payment deadline and must submit the required documents to the AIAPR before the submission deadline.
Dates and Deadlines:
- Sept. 18: Call for Submissions
- Sept. 30: Virtual Information Session #1
- Oct. 14: Virtual Information Session #2
- Oct. 19: Deadline for registration, fee payment, and submission of all related documents
- Nov. 21: Design & Honor Awards Ceremony during the Annual AIA Puerto Rico Convention
*No late submissions will be accepted. No registration fees will be refunded for disqualified or incomplete submissions.
Submission Fees:
- Design Award Categories
- Award of Excellence for Built Work: $180 first, $130 additional
- Unbuilt Design Award: $180 first, $130 additional
- Theoretical and Research Design Award – Architects: $180 first, $130 additional
- Theoretical and Research Design Award – Associates: $90 first, $70 additional
- Theoretical and Research Design Award – Student AIAS: $40 first, $30 additional
- Theoretical and Research Design Award– Non-AIAS Student: $50 first, $40 additional
- Sustainable Design Award: $180 first, $130 additional
- Test of Time Award: $180 first, $130 additional
- Student Work Design Award – Student AIAS: $40 first, $30 additional
- Student Work Design Award – Non-AIAS Student: $50 first, $40 additional
- Honor Award Categories
- Firm Award: $200
- The Gold Medal Award: $100
- Associate Member Individual Honor Award: FREE
- Young Architect Individual Honor Award: FREE (New Awards Category)
Projects submitted for an Award of Excellence of Built Work are automatically entered in the “PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD”.
Once a project has been SUBMITTED, it will be assigned an ID number to be used throughout the evaluation process.
How to Prepare Your Submission:
Submission Overview
- Each project must be submitted as a single PowerPoint presentation containing a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 slides. Slides may contain more than one image, and composite pages are acceptable.
- The PowerPoint file must not exceed 25 MB.
- No identifying information in the Jury Submission PowerPoint presentation regarding the entrant, architect, or firm may appear.
- All text must be typed in Arial font, minimum 10 pt, and placed on the right side of each slide. The layout, background, and formatting provided in the official PowerPoint template must not be changed.
- All slides must include the project’s entry number, title, location, and square footage, as indicated in the official template.
- First slide must contain a single representative image of the submitted project.
- Second slide must include a concise project description highlighting the project’s positive impact on individuals and communities and how it accomplishes client/user goals.
- A site plan or aerial photo and overall floor plans are required. Plans and site information must include graphic scales and directional north arrows.
- Submissions should include sufficient visual and graphic information to clearly communicate the project. As applicable, include conceptual diagrams, elevations, floor plans, sections, site plans, process work, and other drawings that contribute to the understanding of the design.
- Renderings must be clearly identified as renderings, particularly when they depict unbuilt elements.
- Presentations must not include sound, animation, video, panorama movies, hyperlinks, or links to other files.
- All information in the Jury Submission PowerPoint must be completed in English.
Tell the Jury a Story
The Jury will consist of practicing architects from outside the Chapter. Every year, jurors reward submissions that best tell the story of a project behind the marketing images. What concepts and considerations drove the design? What were the challenges and opportunities along the way? How did the design team arrive at the solution?
We encourage submitters to use the project narrative, captions, inclusion of process work, design diagrams, and metrics as opportunities to tell a design story.
Requirements of Powerpoint
Template Format: 8.5″ × 11″ — Landscape
Length: Minimum 10 slides | Maximum 20 slides
Maximum File Size: 25 MB
Slide 1 — Representative Project Image
- The first slide must contain one representative image of the submitted project.
- The project’s entry number, title, location, and square footage must appear as indicated in the official template.
- Do not include the architect, firm, consultants, owner, contractor, or any other information that could identify the entrant.
Slide 2 — Project Description
Provide a concise project description that:
- Introduces the project’s primary design concept and objectives.
- Describes how the project accomplishes client/user goals.
- Addresses the project’s positive impact on individuals and communities.
- Provides sufficient context for the Jury to understand the project’s design approach.
Slides 3–20 — Project Documentation
Use the remaining slides to tell the project’s design story through a combination of photography, drawings, diagrams, captions, and other relevant information. As applicable, submissions should include:
- Images showing each exposed side of the building or environment.
- Images establishing the context of each exposed side, unless the context is already clearly communicated elsewhere.
- For exterior alterations, before-and-after images of each altered exposed side, unless their unavailability is documented.
- For preservation or restoration projects, sufficient information to distinguish the original architect’s work from newly altered, preserved, or restored elements.
- For groups of buildings, an image illustrating the complete project and its relationship to its surroundings.
- At least one interior image of each major functional space.
- Overall floor plans.
- A site plan or aerial photograph.
- Conceptual and process diagrams where useful.
- Elevations and sections necessary to understand the project.
- Graphic scales and directional north arrows on applicable drawings.
- Clearly labeled renderings when depicting unbuilt elements.
Images, drawings, diagrams, and text should be selected and sequenced to communicate the project clearly rather than simply maximize the amount of information presented.
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