Submit to America ByDesign: Call for Projects

Thank you for your interest in being a part of America ByDesign in AIA Philadelphia. Please fill out this form with all project information.

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Submit to 2025 AIA Philadelphia Emanuel Kelly Award

AIA Philadelphia 2025 Emanuel Kelly Award

  This year's Design Awards Celebration will be held November 13, 2025. For more information about the Design Awards, please visit: https://aiaphiladelphia.org/pages/awards


Application Process

Step 1: Create Profile

  • Create a new username and password.
  • There is no fee for the Emanuel Kelly Award.
  • Click Save Address and Continue to begin your application.


 

Step 2: Submit Your Application

  • Enter your Name, Place of Employment, and Job Title.


Step 3: Uploads

  • Upload a copy of the Design Awards PowerPoint Template (please use one hi-res image and follow the formatting instructions on the template - PPT or PPTX files only).
  • Upload a copy of your application to be reviewed by the jury (PDF files only).


 

About the Emanuel Kelly Award
  Our chapter created the Emanuel Kelly Award to be presented to an architectural educator in our community for impactful research, significant pedagogical development, or innovative teaching in the advancement of architectural education. This award recognizes the educator’s efforts in shaping the future leaders of our profession.

Criteria & Eligibility 

Adjuncts or Full Time Faculty, 5 year minimum teaching experience.


 

Application (PDF)

1. Accomplishments: A list summary of the candidate’s accomplishments including: impactful research, significant pedagogical development, or innovative teaching in the advancement of architectural education. This should also include service, teaching, and publications if applicable. 

2. Exhibits: Provide in-depth examples of the candidate’s work that emphasize their contributions and discuss how their involvement contributed to its success. Exhibits are not limited to scholarly work and can include practice/education models, volunteering, publications, organizational leadership, etc. However, all candidates are expected to show some scholarly work. A declaration of the candidate’s responsibility is required for each submitted scholarly work. The declaration should indicate:

  • that the candidate was largely responsible for scholarly work, or;
  • that the scholarly work was under the candidate’s direction, or;
  • a described level of other responsibility.
     

3. Three letters of recommendation. Two of the letters can be from your current employer/colleagues. 


Late entries cannot be accepted. Thank you for your cooperation!

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Submit to 2025 AIA Philadelphia Young Architect Award

AIA Philadelphia 2025 Young Architect Award

This year's Design Awards Celebration will be held November 13, 2025. For more information about the Design Awards, please visit: https://aiaphiladelphia.org/pages/awards


Application Process

Step 1: Create Profile

  • Create a new username and password.
  • There is no fee for the Young Architect Award.
  • Click Save Address and Continue to begin your application.


Step 2: Submit Your Application

  • Enter your Name, Firm Name, Job Title, and Date of Birth.
  • List the state(s) in which you are licensed.


Step 3: Uploads

  • Upload a copy of your license (PDF files only).
  • Upload a copy of the Design Awards PowerPoint Template (please use one hi-res image and follow the formatting instructions on the template - PPT or PPTX files only).
  • Upload a copy of your application to be reviewed by the jury (PDF files only).


About the Young Architect Award
AIA Philadelphia annually recognizes a young architect who has demonstrated exceptional early achievement and future promise. The Fellows Committee of the Chapter serves as the jury. The award is intended not only to honor the recipient, but to introduce the design community and the public to new voices within the profession and to encourage other young practitioners in their careers.

Criteria
A successful candidate must display excellent past work, authored by the candidate, as well as promise of future merit in one, two, three, or all four of the following categories:

  • Design Excellence: Work that demonstrates aesthetic, technical, and functional excellence;
  • Practice: Demonstrated leadership, management, and/or specialized technical expertise;
  • Education: Expanding the influence of the profession through teaching, publications, and/or research;
  • Service: Exemplary service and contributions to the profession and/or society.

A candidate may choose to focus on contributions either broadly or in depth.


Eligibility
Candidates must be registered architect members of AIA Philadelphia between the ages of 25 and 39 as of the due date of the application.

Application
All items listed below should be submitted as a single pdf of a maximum of twenty 8 ½” x 11” pages and no larger than 18 MB. Please title the pdf with the candidate’s name, underscore, YA (i.e., JaneSmith_YA). Each application must include:

1.) A cover page including the candidate’s name, address, contact information and birthdate 

2.) Summary Statement - A one-page high level narrative describing the basis for the candidate’s nomination (that items 3, 4, and 5 will explore in greater detail).

3.) Accomplishments - A list summary of the candidate’s accomplishments including: education, employment, registrations, significant professional work, recognition. This should also include service, teaching, and publications if applicable. 

4.) Exhibits – Provide in-depth examples of the candidate’s work that emphasize their contributions and discuss how their involvement contributed to its success. Exhibits are not limited to design work and can include practice/education models, volunteering, publications, organizational leadership, etc. However, all candidates are expected to show some project work. A declaration of the candidate’s responsibility, signed by a firm principal, is required for each submitted project. The declaration should indicate:

  • that the candidate was largely responsible for the project design; or
  • that the project was under the candidate’s direction as project manager; or
  • that the candidate was the project architect; or
  • a described level of other responsibility.

5.)  Three letters of recommendation. Letters should be on company letterhead and no more than one page (8 ½” x 11”) long. At least two of the letters must be from AIA members (need not be AIA Philadelphia members). Only one of the letters may be from the candidate’s current employer or co-workers. Only one letter may be from a non-AIA member. Letters of recommendation must be from those who have direct knowledge of the candidate’s work as it pertains to this application.


Schedule

Application due: Friday, August 22, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.

Jury’s decision announced: Applicants will be confidentially notified of the jury’s decision in September 2025

Public announcement: The Young Architect Award will be publicly announced and presented to the recipient(s) at the Chapter’s Annual Design Awards Celebration in November. Successful candidates will be asked to participate in a short video interview, prepared by the Chapter, to be screened during the Design Awards Celebration.

Exhibit and Talk: Award recipients will be invited to participate in the On the Rise Exhibit that showcases their work, with that of other award winners. This program will take place at a date to be determined. Award recipients will additionally be asked to prepare a short talk about their work in concert with the exhibit.


More Information
Potential applicants or Chapter members who would like to propose applicants can obtain more information, on a confidential basis, by contacting any current member of the Chapter’s Fellows Committee.


Late entries cannot be accepted. Thank you for your cooperation!

AIA Philadelphia