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Awards

Honoring the nation’s best design-build projects and leaders.

Project/Team Awards

DBIA’s National Project/Team awards are given annually to projects that exemplify the principles of Design-Build Done Right®. Entries compete for the following honors:

  • Project of the Year
  • Design-Build Awards of Excellence
  • Design-Build Merit Award
  • Chair’s Award
  • Best Of Awards
  • Meaningful DEI Practices
  • Enlightened Owner

Click here to see 2023 award winners.

Our 2024 Design-Build Project/Team Awards competition is now open!

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DBIA's National Design-Build Awards

The 2024 National Design-Build Project/Team Awards competition is open and ready to accept your team’s application. Regardless of your team’s level of experience in design-build, project size, type or sector, DBIA is eager to learn about your successful projects!

Prior to starting your project submission, be sure to review our FAQs and Submission Guidelines document carefully. The FAQs answer common questions about the process and provide guidance on resources and documentation you will need to reference, suggest important people to engage in completing your submission, and provide an overview of the questions that will be asked when you enter the online portal.

We’ll honor our Merit winners awarded in 10 market sectors plus special categories, including the best in VDC, engineering, architecture, process, small projects, teaming, and projects with enlightened Owners and those exemplifying meaningful DEI practices. DBIA is committed to celebrating people and projects that raise the bar and demonstrate what Design-Build Done Right® can achieve.

FAQs and Guidelines Start Submission

What Makes a Winning Entry?

We know completing awards entries can be time-consuming, so we’ve created several tools to help streamline the process for our entrants. This small amount of research will help you prepare the most effective awards submission possible.

Download the Awards FAQs and Submission Guidelines for a preview of the types of questions to expect.

FAQs and GuidelinesAwards Podcast

Project Award FAQs

Do we need to be a DBIA member to submit an award entry?

You do not need to be a member of DBIA to enter the competition. Many non-members have won awards in years past.

What makes a successful entry?

We’re glad you asked! Our suggestions are:

  1. Read the criteria carefully, and make sure you understand what is being asked. If you don’t understand something, contact awards@dbia.org with your question.
  2. Be specific and answer the questions that are asked.
  3. Show off how design-build facilitated innovation and creative problem-solving.
  4. Start EARLY. The competition asks for a great deal of information. You’ll want to have all of that information compiled, reviewed and ready for online entry before you begin. A number of questions will require responses that, because they have a restriction on the amount of text, should be well thought out in advance. Also, review for spelling and grammar to help assure that the summaries DBIA pulls from your entry will be coherent.
  5. Assemble a team — oftentimes, different people will be knowledgeable about different aspects of a project or have access to different materials.
  6. Have someone not on the team review the information once the entry is complete.

Involve your marketing professionals — they may have valuable input. Plus, if you win, they can use that award in their materials to help your company get additional projects!

Who should submit an entry? Can several firms on the design-build team enter?

We ask that only one entry for a project be submitted. Typically, the project is submitted by the lead design-builder, although others (including the project owner) can submit instead.

When are entries due?

The submission deadline is May 31, 2024. The extended deadline (for an additional $100 fee) is June 7, 2024.

Is there a cost to enter?

The application fee is based on the membership status of the submitting company. The entry fee for DBIA Industry Partner (organizational) members is $475; for all others it is $775 to enter. We also offer an extended deadline for an additional $100 per project. Contact membership@dbia.org to see if your organization is a member of DBIA.

Can we submit our entry by mail?

No, the entry process is entirely online and thus, no mailed entries will be accepted. The online process ensures that all entries are judged from the same set of criteria and gives the jury a chance to review projects via the online system.

What are the awards given each year?

DBIA’s National Awards of Merit are the top projects — typically up to three — in each category. From the Awards of Merit, judges then choose the National Awards of Excellence (if one is worthy) which are the single best projects in each category.

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS

All winning projects will also be considered for the following special recognitions:

  1. Best in Engineering Design
  2. Best in Architectural Design
  3. Best in (Design-Build) Process
  4. Best in Teaming
  5. Best in VDC
  6. Best in Small Projects
  7. Projects Exemplifying Meaningful DEI Practices
  8. Enlightened Owner
  9. I.N.S.P.I.R.E.D. Owner
  10. Chair’s Award
  11. Project of the Year

Can I enter a single project in more than one category?

No, each project can only be entered in one category. However, if the jury believes that a project belongs in a different category, they have the option of judging in that category instead. The jury also reserves the right to combine categories as necessary.

Can I enter a project more than once?

In short, yes. While you can only enter a project once in any given year, you can enter that same project in more than one year, if its completion date is within the given time. Numerous projects have won in the second year of their entry, usually because the submitter was able to create a more detailed entry the second time around.

What is the "given time" or time range of a project that can be submitted?

The project must be completed and owner-occupied or utilized after March 31, and no more than three years prior to the entry year (e.g. 2021 for 2024).

Can I enter more than one project?

You can enter as many projects as you’d like in any given year. However, each project will have to be entered separately, including separate entry fees.

The submission asks for a list of "team members" — what is it you're looking for?

We would like to be able to list all of the organizations that played a significant part in the project’s success. We list the team members on our website and publicize them on our Design-Build Delivers Blog and in press releases. We ask that you please use the full, formal name of these organizations so that we can list them correctly and avoid having team members have their company names be incomplete or completely left off the list. Only the team members listed in your submission will be included in DBIA’s marketing of award winners. Please be sure anyone you want to be listed as a team member is included in your submission.

How do I know if a team member has the DBIA™, Assoc. DBIA™ or FDBIA™ credential?

The list of Designated Design-Build Professionals — in alphabetical order — can be found here. It is updated as new people achieve their credentials.

This deadline is different than I thought. Why?

DBIA National’s deadline for award submissions may be different because you could be confusing it with a DBIA Regional Awards competition. Several of our regions have their own competitions for projects in their own geographic area. Please view our Regions page for more information.

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