BSA honors extraordinary contributions to community and profession, with accolades for design and project excellence, lifetime and community achievement, and young professionals.
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Recommendations for 2026 are now closed. Please email [email protected] for more information.
The BSA Design Awards honor projects that embody the values of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence and the BSA’s vision of building a just and sustainable Boston, together.
Submissions are accepted from eligible firms and projects. Awards are determined by expert juries.
This highest design honor awarded by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA recognizes “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument or structure within the City or Metropolitan Parks District limits” built within the last ten years. Additionally, by public vote, the most popular among each year’s Medal finalists is awarded the Harleston Parker People's Choice Award.
Nominations are accepted from the public annually in January and February. Awards are issued by a community jury.
The WiD award recognizes a person who has built their life around design, whose work exemplifies the best of process and product, and who uses a position of achievement to give back to the world of design and to the community at large.
Nominations are accepted from the public for eligible candidates. Awards are made by the Women in Design Knowledge Community.
The BSA Award of Honor recognizes a BSA member, current or former, who has made "outstanding contributions to architecture and to the profession" over an extended period of time.
Nominations and awards are made by the BSA Honors and Awards Committee. Recommendations are accepted from the public in January and February.
The Honorary BSA Membership recognizes a person of esteemed character who has rendered valuable service to the profession of architecture within the territory of the BSA, but is not eligible for AIA or Associate AIA membership in the Boston Society of Architects/AIA or any other chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The BSA Commonwealth Award recognizes an individual, group, concept, or object—other than an architect or a building—that has exercised an outstanding positive influence on our built environment or our awareness of it.
Granted to less than three percent of the architecture profession, membership in the prestigious AIA College of Fellows—the AIA’s highest membership honor—recognizes exceptional work and contributions to architecture and society. Elected by their peers, Fellows can be identified by the designation FAIA after their name.
Submissions are accepted by the BSA Fellows Committee. Awards are determined by an AIA National jury.
The Earl R. Flansburgh Young Designers Award recognizes notable contributions by emerging professionals under the age of 40, including practitioners, aspiring architects, and architecture students. The award honors the legacy of past BSA president and distinguished Boston architect Earl R. Flansburgh FAIA, founder of Flansburgh Associates.
Submissions are accepted from eligible candidates from July through September. Awards are made by the BSA Honors and Awards Committee.
The Rotch Travelling Scholarship provides one emerging professional—an architecture graduate of the past 10 years, with one year of experience in a Massachusetts firm or a degree from a Massachusetts institution—with a stiped to cover a minimum of six months of travel and architecture study abroad.
Submissions are accepted from eligible candidates annually as part of a scholarship competition. Awards are made by a Rotch Travelling Scholarship jury.
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