Healthcare Design Award

Entrants

AIA members in good standing must serve as the submitting architect. The submitting architect may qualify as a member of a design team, whether or not serving as the head of the team. When one architect is not the sole author, all other participants contributing substantially to the design of the project must be given credit as part of the submission, regardless of professional discipline. 

Projects

Projects submitted must have been completed after January 1, 2019.

Projects that have previously received a Healthcare Design award are not eligible for resubmission in the same category. Projects may be re-submitted in future year's competitions, as long as they still meet the submission requirements.

Projects may be located anywhere in the world but must have been designed by an architect licensed in the United States or one of its territories at the time of the project's completion. “Completion” is synonymous with “substantial completion” as defined in the standard AIA documents governing construction.

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. 

Categories

• Category A: Built: Less than $25 million (construction cost)
• Category B: Built: More than $25 million (construction cost)
• Category C: Renovations/Remodeled: Primarily built within existing hospital or clinical space or adaptive reuse of an existing building to a health care use.
• Category D: Unbuilt: Must be commissioned for compensation by a client with the authority and intention to build.
• Category E: Innovations in planning and design research, built and unbuilt.
• Category F: Master planning urban design for health care settings. 

Recognition

• Award winners are announced via AIA press release and email. Winning entries will be published on AIA web spaces and in the AAH Supplement for the Healthcare Design Conference in the fall. Selected projects may also be featured in presentations and at conferences. AAH is committed to continuing to expand coverage of the winning entries.
• Additionally, winning entries will be published in the case study database developed and updated by the AAH Research Committee and will be accessible from the website. Case studies will include previous winners and updated with future winners to serve for research and promote best practices. Recipients will be requested to assist AAH in helping populate the case study template with the appropriate project information. This is an opportunity to gain exposure well beyond the awards program rollout.
• Please be advised that the jury, at its discretion, may select additional non-recipient projects to be included in the case study program. Firms will be requested to assist AAH in helping to populate the case study template with the appropriate project information. Peruse the  Case Study Library. 

For information on 2025 recipients of this award program visit 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.