story you are trying to express, don’t include it. The jury does not know what has been left out. Jurors review many submissions and often have limited time to understand each project. A clear story and thoughtful presentation help the jury quickly understand the intent and impact of your work. Clarity can often be achieved through diagrams that communicate design intent and explain solutions that may not be immediately understood through photographs alone. Finally, as you prepare your submission, read the narrative out loud. This will help you “listen” to the story you are telling and can ultimately strengthen your submission. Seek Feedback If you are a solo practitioner, share your submission with a colleague in your area or in another state. Requesting feedback can give you an outsider’s perspective that may help you look at your project with a more critical eye. Outside feedback can also highlight merits in your work that you may not have noticed or considered before. Another great source of feedback is jury comments. If your submission is not selected for a particular award, request comments from the jury to better understand how your work was perceived; this can help you improve future submissions. Study the Framework for Design Excellence Many design award programs, especially at the national level, use the Framework for Design Excellence as a rubric for determining award-worthy work. Keep the Framework in mind throughout the design process, rather than post-engineering a project to adhere to its elements. According to the AIA, “the AIA Framework for Design Excellence challenges architects with a vision of what the profession strives to achieve. The framework’s 10 principles are relevant for every architect, every client and every project, regardless of size, typology or aspiration.” Few projects will fully address all 10 principles. Highlight the principles your project included and think creatively about how it addresses the others. Juries often have latitude in how much consideration to give these principles. While the Framework might be considered during judging, the extent to which your project does or doesn’t exemplify its principles shouldn’t dissuade you from submitting meaningful work. Continue Submitting With a variety of design awards available within and beyond the AIA, consider submitting your project to multiple award programs at different levels. Each award has unique criteria, and your project may fit a specific design award better than another. Juries vary from program to program and from year to year, too, so don’t give up after a single submission. What fails to resonate with one jury may appeal to another. Resubmit the projects you truly believe in. Conclusion Is submitting for a design award worth your already limited time? The answer may not be as simple as whether you end up with an award on your shelf. The process of documenting your work, reflecting on your design decisions, gathering feedback and communicating the value of your projects strengthens your practice regardless of the outcome. Small firms are uniquely positioned to create meaningful, thoughtful architecture, and design awards provide an opportunity to share those stories with a broader audience. Whether your project receives recognition or not, taking time to understand and articulate the impact of your work can be a beneficial practice. Bruce T. Fallon, AIA, is a principal architect at WPA Architecture, located in Provo, Utah, and has been a practicing architect since 2003. He has served on the AIA Utah Honors and Awards Committee since 2011, is a former chair of the AIA National Small Firm Exchange, and is a current member of the AIA National Small Project Design Advisory Group. benefit from the photography, too. You don’t have to break the bank. You can also supplement professional photography with your own. Your trained eye and intimate understanding of your project often provide what juries need to understand it clearly, even if the photos are taken internally or on your phone. Build photography within your project close-out process. Even if you don’t pursue an award immediately, those images become valuable resources for future marketing, proposals and award submissions. When organizing your photographs for submission, start with the photo that best tells your story and introduces the jury to your building. End the submission with your second-best photo. The photos in between should be thought out and tied to the narrative you want to share with the jury. Photos of existing conditions and construction work can also support your narrative. Tell Your Story Curate your entry by asking yourself these questions: • What story is the project trying to tell? • What is compelling about your project? • What makes it stand out as an example of good design for a building of this type? If there’s something you want to include that doesn’t support the narrative or 25
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