Organized by the AIA Dallas Community Honors Committee
Deadline: Monday, February 5, 2024
Each year, the AIA Dallas Community Honors Committee celebrates the individuals and groups who are promoting, improving, and expanding our profession. We nominate and create the submission packets for awards bestowed by Texas Society of Architects (TxA), AIA National, and by our local Chapter. Any AIA Dallas or AIA Northeast Texas section member in good standing can submit a nominee for consideration. Nominees must be located within the geography of AIA Dallas and/or AIA Northeast Texas.
The AIA Dallas Community Honors Committee is currently seeking local nominations for Local, State, & National Honor Awards in the following categories:
National Honor Awards
AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Architectural Education
Architecture’s future depends on its next generation of leaders—and the educators who impact their lives. The Topaz Medallion honors those who educate others to ensure architecture’s enduring excellence. This award, jointly presented by AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), recognizes outstanding individual contributions in architectural education. It is presented to an individual who has had a significant impact on architectural education and the discipline and practice of architecture. It is the highest award the organizations make to an educator and reflects their joint commitment to recognize service to the profession, academy, and society.
AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture
Great public architecture embodies the identity and values of a society. The Award for Excellence in Public Architecture recognizes architects in the public and private sectors who design distinguished public facilities; and public officials, or other individuals, who advocate for the design excellence of public spaces.
AIA Architecture Firm Award
Every year, the AIA recognizes one firm that has produced notable architecture for at least a decade. It’s our highest honor—given to firms on par with past recipients Ehrlich Architects, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects—firms whose passion and practice have earned them a permanent place on our granite Wall of Honor at AIA headquarters.
AIA Associates Award
The Associates Award recognizes exceptional leaders within the Associate AIA membership designation who have made significant contributions to their component, community, professional organizations, and/or in the design and construction industries.
AIA Collaborative Achievement
The field of architecture does not evolve solely through the work of architects. The Collaborative Achievement Award recognizes the achievements of allied professionals and architect teams which have advanced the architectural profession. Shared dedication and distinguished achievement earn this award, whose past recipients have included the Post-Sandy Initiative and the National Building Museum.
AIA Edward C. Kemper Award
This award recognizes a member who has had a significant impact on the profession through service to AIA or an architecture-related organization. The highest service award the AIA can confer upon a member, it is named in honor of Edward C. Kemper, who led AIA as executive director from 1914 to 1948.
AIA Gold Medal
The Gold Medal is the AIA’s highest annual honor, recognizing individuals whose work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. Considered one of the most prestigious awards in the architecture world, the Gold Medal has been received by well renowned architects such as Denise Scott Brown & Robert Venturi, Paul Revere Williams, Julia Morgan, or Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa.
AIA Honorary Membership
AIA recognizes the notable contributions and service of people outside of the architecture profession with Honorary Membership. Honorary Membership is open to a single individual, or two individuals who have created one body of work, who are ineligible for AIA Membership.
AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Award
Civil rights leader Whitney Young challenged architects to assume their professional responsibility to address pressing social issues. Named in his honor, The Whitney M. Young Jr. Award distinguishes an architect or architectural organization that embodies social responsibility and actively addresses a relevant issue, such as affordable housing, inclusiveness, or universal access. This social engagement isn’t restricted to architecture—it can be expressed in any area of the nominee’s life or work.
AIA Young Architects Award
The Young Architects Award recognizes AIA Members in the early stage of their architectural career, who have shown exceptional leadership in design, planning, education, and service to the profession. The following members in good standing are eligible to be nominated: AIA architect members who has been licensed to practice architecture less than 10 years at the time of the submission deadline; Associate AIA members who have passed the ARE; International AIA members who meet one of the qualifications listed above.
Texas Society of Architects Honor Awards
TxA Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Honor of Llewellyn W. Pitts, FAIA
The Medal for Lifetime Achievement is awarded to a single member each year in recognition of a lifetime of distinguished leadership and dedication to architecture, the profession, and the community.
TxA Architecture Firm Award
The Architecture Firm Award is presented to a single Texas firm that has consistently produced distinguished architecture and has contributed significantly to the profession and the community for a period of at least 10 years. This award is the highest honor the Texas Society of Architects can confer upon an architectural firm.
TxA Award for Community Service in Honor of John D. Pfluger, FAIA
Recognizes a single individual member for an extended commitment to community service and/or significant contributions to the community evidenced in a positive impact on urban, environmental, or neighborhood issues.
TxA Award for Outstanding Educational Contributions in Honor of Edward J. Romieniec, FAIA
This award recognizes a single individual architectural educator for outstanding educational contributions. Must be a current or former member of the faculty at one of the accredited schools or colleges of architecture in Texas, or at one of the state’s community colleges, and a full-time educator for at least five years. It is required that a nominee teaching courses in architecture should be a member of the AIA.
TxA Award for Equitable Practice in Architecture in Honor of John S. Chase Jr., FAIA
The award is to recognize the effort of those architects who have made significant, measurable strides in their practice, in the practice of others, or in the public awareness of equitable practice in architecture. The award is open to all members of the Texas Society of Architects practicing architecture in Texas, to AIA components within Texas, to Texas Society of Architects members’ firms, or to any program (such as an event, research project, or community initiative) that was produced in Texas by a Texas Society of Architects member.
TxA Award for Early Career Professional Achievement in Honor of William W. Caudill, FAIA
Awarded to a single architect member who has shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession in the early stages of his or her architectural career. Texas architect members who have been practicing as a licensed architect fewer than 120 months (months need not be consecutive) by the submission deadline and are currently registered in the State of Texas are eligible.
TxA Associate Member of the Year
This Honor Award is presented to a single Associate AIA member who best exemplifies the highest qualities of leadership and has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to his or her local component, or to Texas’ membership through service to the profession and/or in the community.
TxA Honorary Membership
Honorary membership in the Texas Society of Architects is one of the highest honors the Society can bestow upon a person outside the profession of architecture. It is awarded to individuals for their long-term association with architects, architecture, or allied professions in providing a better quality of life in Texas. Honorary Membership is awarded for the nominee’s accomplishments, which are truly outstanding and deserving of statewide recognition.
TxA Mentorship Award
Awarded to a Texas Society of Architects member or a Texas AIA chapter for developing unique programming for the successful development of Associate AIAs, or for an extraordinary effort to mentor and promote the advancement of these professionals at the local or state level.
TxA Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Architecture through the Media in Honor of John G. Flowers, Hon. AIA
Awarded to recognize an individual or organization for excellence in the promotion of architecture through the media. Media is a broad category and can include written materials, radio/TV, web and digital format.
TxA Citation of Honor
Awarded to individuals, groups, or organizations outside the profession whose activities make significant contributions in supporting the creation of safe, beautiful, equitable, and sustainable environments or communities in Texas.
TxA Artisan Award
The Artisan Award is presented to individuals, groups, or organizations outside the profession whose artistry, talent, technique, diligence, creative insight, and collaborative nature support the creation of safe, beautiful, and sustainable environments and make significant contributions to the built and natural environment in Texas. The intent of the award is to recognize those individual persons or groups who directly and personally create, craft, and manipulate materials, assemble, and finish in a comprehensive way and is to not be open to those entities that organize, schedule, coordinate, and direct artisan work, such as contractors or construction managers.
AIA Dallas Honor Awards
AIA Dallas Lifetime Achievement Award
This award recognizes an individual, or two individuals working together who have created a singular body of service and achievement, for a lifetime of leadership and accomplishment within the profession of architecture.
AIA Dallas Firm Award
The Firm Award is given to a firm that has demonstrated outstanding commitment to design, practice, community, and professional endeavors.
AIA Dallas Honorary Membership
Honorary Memberships are granted to esteemed individuals who have rendered extraordinary and valuable service within the Dallas area, and have conspicuously upheld the AIA’s aims, but who are not eligible for membership in the Institute or the Chapter.
AIA Dallas Consultant Award
The Consultant Award recognizes a member of an associated profession who has contributed significantly to the ability of architects to produce high quality projects.
AIA Dallas Contractor Award
The Contractor Award is given to recognize outstanding qualities of construction work, the promotion of professionalism, and the development of excellent working relationships between the contractor, the architect, and the community.
AIA Dallas Community Honors Award
Community Honor Awards are bestowed on persons, firms, corporations, or associations for meritorious work in their respective fields and that have contributed to the architectural and artistic quality of life in Dallas.
AIA Dallas Artisan Award
The Artisan Award recognizes those craftsmen and artisans within the Dallas area whose talent, technique, diligence and creative insight makes great architecture possible.
AIA Dallas Sustainability Commendation
This award is given to public officials, community groups, business owners, and design professionals for taking chances on behalf of the environment and the design community. This award recipient is nominated by the AIA Dallas Committee on the Environment.
AIA Dallas Architecture Educator Award
This award recognizes outstanding educators of local K-12 schools, community colleges, universities, and continuing education providers within the AIA Dallas boundaries. This award recipient is nominated by the AIA Dallas Education Outreach Committee.
AIA Dallas Historic Architecture Award
The AIA Dallas Historic Architecture Award recognizes buildings or structures that have had a significant impact and influence on architectural, cultural, and related aspects of the Texas built environment. These buildings and structures should exemplify standards of excellence and visionary concepts that have continued to influence subsequent buildings and structures.