Regardless of your area of expertise, background, or stage of career, the BSA has an award that applies to you! This fall the BSA is seeking submissions/nominations for awards for outstanding designers under 40, women in design, and exemplary innovation in the built environment. Are there mentors, peers, colleagues, students, aspiring professionals, projects by New England design professionals, or projects in New England by non-Massachusetts-based design professionals that you deem worthy of one of these awards?

Nominations/submissions are due on September 29 for the BSA Design Awards and the Earl R. Flansburgh Young Designers Award and on September 22 for the WiD Award of Excellence. Make your submission today!

BSA Design Awards

The BSA Design Awards program “celebrates exemplary innovation in the built environment, investment from committed clients, and the unique power of architecture to design buildings and spaces that transform communities and shape the way we live.” The submission deadline has been extended to September 29, 2023.

This year, submissions can be made in the following three categories:

• Built Design Excellence—recognizing measured design excellence through performance metrics, as outlined in the Common App, in all completed projects.
• Small Firms—recognizing design excellence through performance narratives, as outlined in the Common App, in all completed projects. Eligible for firms of 10 or fewer employees.
• Unbuilt Planning and Design—recognizing the promise of design excellence in the broadest possible range of research, conceptual exploration, and innovation in design thinking for initiated and theoretical projects.

In 2020, the BSA Design Awards Program incorporated the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, comprising 10 measures—each with a set of thought-provoking questions designers and clients can use to guide their projects. Beginning this year, the Design Awards program adopts the framework’s measures through the Common App worksheet, which includes metrics that further inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.

Detailed answers to your questions related to this awards program can be found here.

All submissions must be uploaded and completed online with payment by 11:59 p.m. on September 29, 2023.

Earl R. Flansburgh Young Designers Award

The Earl R. Flansburgh Young Designers Award recognizes design excellence by a designer under age 40. The prize includes an online exhibition of the winner’s work hosted on the BSA website, a lecture, and a one-year membership to the BSA. Students, emerging architectural professionals, and aspiring architects under the age of 40 are eligible to apply.

The award is named for Earl Flansburgh FAIA, who founded Earl R. Flansburgh + Associates (now Flansburgh Architects) and enjoyed a distinguished career spanning more than 45 years. A past BSA president and BSA Award of Honor winner, the late Flansburgh was known for generously supporting emerging professionals and advocating for women architects.

To learn more about this award, attend the BSA’s September 7 webinar featuring Sae Kim AIA, the 2022 award recipient and principal at CBT. The webinar will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. and will be recorded for those who cannot attend. RSVP here. For more on eligibility requirements and to submit your nomination, click here.

All applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, September 29, 2023.

Women in Design Award of Excellence

For more than 20 years, the Women in Design (WiD) Award of Excellence has honored women in the design community who have made an impact through their accomplishments within the design profession and have leveraged these accomplishments to the support the advancement of others. As examples: One past winner created a mobile farm stand to combat food insecurity and another tirelessly advocated for what is now Boston’s 43-mile HarborWalk public access system. Can you think of someone who is making distinctive contributions in the Greater Boston area?

Consider the following when thinking about potential nominees:

• This award honors women across disciplines (past honorees have included artists, international designers, magazine editors, landscape architects, and engineers, to name a few).
• Individuals at all stages of their career are eligible.
• The required three letters of recommendation are crucial.

For more on the submission process, listen to this WiD Award informational session.

Both prospective awardees and colleagues may submit nominations. If you know someone who represents the ideals of this award and would like to see their name on this inspiring montage, nominate them today.

All submissions are due by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, September 22, 2023.