COTE® Top Ten Award
The industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence.
Questions about program policies, application requirements, or how to submit online? Please see the AIA Awards FAQ for more information on the awards submission process.
Celebrating sustainable design excellence
The Committee on the Environment (COTE®) Top Ten award program was founded on the idea that sustainability is essential to design excellence and vice versa. The COTE® Top Ten has become the industry’s best-known award program recognizing innovative projects integrating exemplary performance with compelling design.
Entrants
- Any U.S. licensed architect may enter.
- On team projects, the architect submitting the entry doesn’t have to be the head of the team but must be a noted major contributor to the project.
- Submitting firms must have signed the AIA 2030 Commitment.
Projects
- Completed new buildings, renovations, restorations, interior architecture, and urban/regional plans are eligible.
- Projects may be located anywhere in the world.
- Projects must have been completed at least twelve (12) months prior to the submission deadline, with no additional age-related restrictions.
- You may submit multiple entries.
2026
Submissions open September 12, 2025.
Specific information regarding program policies (i.e., applicant eligibility, nominator options, etc.), required application components (i.e., letters of reference, candidate/project information fields, etc.), and other elements relevant in the 2026 iteration of the program will be available in the online application portal once the award begins accepting materials. All materials must be submitted via the online portal (i.e., cannot be accepted via email, phone, shared online drive, fax, post, etc.) by the prescribed deadline(s): deadline extension or exception requests will not be granted. Applicants and interested parties are encouraged to seek award assistance well in advance of application deadlines to minimize the risk for ineligibility and/or application noncompliance rendering the entry removed from review.
Fee: Single project submissions are $450 each. Submitting the same project to additional award categories costs an extra $100 per category.
Application Components
Extensive information on the materials required to submit an application is housed in the AIA online application portal. Please reference the information in this portal when the program is receiving materials for the 2026 season.
For information on 2025 winners, visit the COTE Top Ten Award 2025 page and our awards management portal.
Recipients of this award from 2024 and 2023 can be found at AIA award winners. For previous recipients, please contact AIA Archives.
COTE Super Spreadsheet
Understand and calculate metrics associated with the Framework for Design Excellence in order to analyze and improve your project.