The Society of American Registered Architects celebrates design excellence in architecture and design through the annual SARA National Design Awards Program, which attracts entries from across the country and around the world from individuals, firms, and students of architecture and allied disciplines. Awards are granted for a wide range of categories and project types, and all entrants will be invited to attend the awards ceremony in New Haven, CT on October 24th, 2026.

Dates

• Registration Opens May 1, 2026

• Submission Deadline (all categories): August 7th at 11:59pm PST

• Awards Notification September 2026

• Awards Celebration October 24th, 2026 in New Haven, CT

Entry Fees

• SARA Members $300*

• Non-Members $400

• Students $50

  *Join SARA today

Eligibility

Architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and design projects may be submitted by individuals, firms, or students of these disciplines. See Project Categories for a complete list. No project may be submitted which has previously received a SARA National Design Award.

Categories

Category winners. In addition to the jury recognitions your project has the chance to win a Category Award. Submit to more categories to increase your chances of recognition.

• AI in Architecture Design Award sponsored by ArkDesign.AI (FREE Submission! fee generously covered by ArkDesign.AI)

• Additions and Small Projects

• American Traditional

• Commercial: Office, Retail, Industrial, Mixed-Use

• Cultural

• Government

• Graphic Communication: Rendering, Computer Graphics, Modeling, Virtual Reality Imaging

• Interiors

• Institutional: Educational, Health-Related, Religious

• Landscape Architecture

• Material Sciences

• Multi-Family Residential: Condominiums, Apartments

• Multi-Family Residential: Affordable Housing, Low Income Housing, Market Rate Housing (Quantity and percentage required)

• Planning: City and Regional, Urban, Feasibility Studies

• Projects under $500,000

• Related Arts: Industrial Design, Furniture, Lighting, Hardware, etc.

• Renovation, Restoration, and Adaptive Re-use

• Single-Family Residential

• Student Projects

  • Graduate

  • Undergraduate

  • Associate (Free submission and grant generously provided by Saatva in partnership with CCCAP and SARA): Top student will receive a $3,000 grant and a trip to New Haven, CT to accept their award—flight and hotel included. Open to current community college students.

• Sustainable Design

• Unbuilt and Theoretical Projects

Awards

Category winners: In addition to the jury recognitions below your project has the chance to win a Category Award. Submit to more categories to increase your chances of recognition.

Award Levels: Awards will be given with the following distinctions: Excellence, Honor, Merit

Entries will be judged based upon any or all of the following:

• Clarity of Concept, Strength and Uniqueness of Solution, and Accurate

• Scope of Work

• Response to Project’s Context of Rural, Suburban, Urban, Campus, or Other

• Unique Neighboring Conditions

• Appropriateness, Applicability, and Function

• Overall Design Aesthetics

• Creativity, Innovation, Ingenuity, and Invention

• Social/Cultural/Community Relevance

Award recipients will be notified September 2026.

Awards will be presented at the National Design Awards Celebration, October 24th at the Hotel Marcel in New Haven, CT. Entrants and winners will be invited to attend along with their clients, consultants, contractors, fellow students, professors, and families.

2026 SARA National Design Awards Sponsors

Diamond Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Silver sponsor

Bronze Sponsors

Support us in our mission and become a sponsor today!