The 2026 IIDA Healthcare Design Awards honour excellence and originality in healthcare interior design that is exemplary of extraordinary innovations in design concepts across 15 categories.

Projects must be submitted in one of the categories below. All projects are eligible for the Transformation and Innovation Award, which recognizes a project that is leading the industry and advancing healthcare outcomes. Categories may be renamed, consolidated, or eliminated (and projects reclassified) at the discretion of IIDA and/or the jurors.

• Ambulatory (specialty clinic, pediatric, cancer center, ambulatory surgery center, or urgent care center)
• Hospitals (community, academic/teaching hospitals, pediatric, women’s, or psychiatric)
• Extended Care and Assisted Living Facilities (independent, skilled nursing facility, mental health, long-term care, or hospice/palliative care)

Judging

The winning design projects are chosen by a jury of design professionals. Submissions are judged on excellence in aesthetics, design, creativity, and function as well as the suitability of the design solution to the project challenge and the successful integration of the elements of design. The jury reserves the right to not select a winner from the entries submitted.

Submission Requirements

All submissions will be done electronically, no hard copy submissions will be accepted. There is no limit to the number of eligible projects a firm may submit; however, each project may only be submitted once. To enter a project into this competition, you will need to prepare and submit the following:

Written Component

• Contact Information: Your design firm’s name, address, phone number, and email
• Project Information: Your design project’s information including name and location
• Three Project Statements:
  • Project description: a brief project summary (50-word maximum)
  • Challenge statement: a description of your design challenge (250-word maximum)
  • Solution statement: a description of specific solutions to project challenges (250-word maximum)

Images

Please submit colour images of your completed project, in JPG or JPEG format with a maximum file size of 2MB. You may submit captions to your images, with a 50-word maximum.

Take note of the following image requirements:

• Submit 7-10 colour images total
• Only one (1) exterior image is permitted
• Use numbers to name your image files, in order of uploads (01, 02, 03, etc)
• Submit a minimum of one (1) floorplanA maximum of three (3) floorplans are allowed
• Please use the following naming format for floor plans: “floorplan1, floorplan2, floorplan3”
• No composite images allowed — only one photograph per image upload
• Use numbers to name your image files, in order of uploads (01, 02, 03, etc)
• Do not reference or include your design/architectural firm name/logo in the images
• Images may be edited to improve contrast ratio, colour balance, and composition through cropping only
• Images may not be edited to add, remove, or alter any aspect or element of the project including its context
• Images should represent the project as it exists in the built environment
• Conceptual renderings will not be accepted

Prizes

• Category winners are scheduled to be announced in October 26, 2026.
• The Best of Competition Award and the Transformation and Innovation Award winners will be announced at the Healthcare Design Awards Winner’s Celebration on November 12, 2026, at IIDA Headquarters in Chicago.
• Winners will be featured in Healthcare Design magazine and on IIDA.org.
• Winners will also receive official digital assets, including competition winner logos for self-promotion, coverage and mention on IIDA’s social media accounts and in an official press release distributed to leading industry outlets and media partners.