Have you submitted yet? The 16th cycle of the AZ Awards is underway and while we’re still ahead of the Early Bird deadline (which is January 23!) we hereby present you all the encouragement you need to enter one of the world’s most renowned design and architecture competitions. Once you’re ready to get started, simply go to azure.awards.platform.com!

1

The Global Recognition

In its over 15 years of celebrating design excellence, the AZ Awards has garnered its own world-wide reputation for exceptionality. And this is evident in the breadth of entries we receive: Submissions have come in from North America and beyond, with entrants hailing from countries including Mexico, China, Brazil, the Netherlands and India. To enter your work into the AZ Awards is to compete on a global platform with the best of the best.

2

More Categories Than Ever

The AZ Awards seeks to provide opportunities across all the design and architecture sectors, and in recent years we’ve expanded categories – including our Interiors umbrella – to recognize a greater array of projects. We’ve also added new sections, like the Urban realm categories, to recognize bigger, bolder community-building schemes. From the spoon to the city!

3

A+ Student Award

The AZ Awards’ A+ Student Award deserves singling out – it’s a platform for students in architecture programs to present their thesis to the world. We’ve awarded a great array of budding visionaries, for ideas and projects including a portable mosque, a modular building block and an eco-village concept. It’s like a crit, but with the possibility of winning big.

4

Are you EMERGING?

Inaugurated last year, our EMERGING awards is another way in which we are recognizing young talent. This category invites designers, architects, landscape architects and interior designers – who established their careers within the past decade – to submit the best works in their growing portfolio. This includes everything from concepts to built projects, research to results.

5

It’s Easy to Submit (and Save!)

All the AZ Awards asks is for a two-pronged description of your project (one short and sweet, the other with all the relevant details you wish to include!) and as many images as you feel will give us a full picture of it. And if you get everything in by January 23, you can also take advantage of our Early Bird discount!

6

Make the Long-list!

We’ve made the adjudication process of the AZ Awards transparent, turning one of its major steps into another platform for recognition. The long-list, which is determined by an internal panel before being brought before the official jury, will be published online. That way, all the projects that AZURE editors deem worthy of putting forward to our jury (from our almost 1,000 submissions) get their time in the spotlight.

7

The Jury Is Stellar

Every year, the AZ Awards convenes a jury of international talents – we’ve had Pritzker laureate Thom Mayne, Cappellini founder Giulio Cappellini, design star Patricia Urquiola, and world-renowned architects Ma Yansong and Sou Fujimoto, just to name a few.

For 2026, we are putting together a panel that is just as inspiring, starting with Jonathan Garnett, Creative Partner, Modellus Novus (New York), Jonas Pettersson and John Löfgren, Co-Founders, Form Us With Love (Stockholm) and Loreta Castro Reguera, Co-Founder, Taller Capital (Mexico City). They will choose both the finalists (Awards of Merit) and the Winners – all of which will comprise a shortlist that is published online and presented for People’s Choice voting!

8

The Trophy Is a Work of Art

Bring home the hardware! In addition to being fêted on our gala stage and across our platforms, the jury-selected winners of the AZ Awards receive a stunning trophy. Every year, we commission a designer we deeply admire – they’ve included Michael Anastassiades, Karim Rashid, Marie-Christine Dorner, Ini Archibong and Oskar Zieta – to reimagine our trophy in an entirely new way. These are pieces of art as much as they are emblems of recognition.

9

Party With the Best of Them

It’s the design event of the year. Every June, the AZ Awards gala welcomes some 500 members of the design and architecture community to party with us in Toronto as we announce the winners of the AZ Awards. It’s a chance to meet your heroes, catch up with colleagues and enjoy an evening to remember.

10

Around-the-Clock Exposure

The celebration doesn’t stop there! Our social media machines run ’round the clock, promoting our finalists, winners and People’s Choice honourees before, during and after the official announcement. The AZ Awards will keep you in the limelight the entire awards cycle.

What else do you need to know? If you have more questions, take a look at our FAQ or get in touch!

Keilhauer is the EMERGING Category sponsor; Colombo Design America, Vicostone and Landscape Forms are the Gala Sponsors for the 2026 AZ Awards.

Media Partners: ArchDaily, Archilovers, Archinect, Archiproducts, Designboom, The Architect’s Newspaper, Architonic, Bustler, Design Week Mexico, v2com newswire, and World-Architects.