AIA Minnesota Awards

As a professional organization, AIA Minnesota provides an opportunity for Minnesota architects to be evaluated among their peers, gain recognition for their work, and promote exemplary design through this Award Program. The Program begins with the Young Architects Award in May and culminates with the announcement of Honor Award winners at the AIA Minnesota State Convention. The Awards Program comes to a close with an Awards Celebration to recognize the winners.

Award categories include: Young Architects, 25-Year, Honor, Special, Louis Lundgren, Gold Medal and Firm Awards. Each award competition occurs annually unless otherwise noted.

Firms or individuals known for their sustainable practices or projects are part of the diversity the committee seeks as this is a critical part of our professional practices, much like preservation, interiors, etc. The Honor Award Jurors for 2011, good examples of the diversity in practice that the awards committee seeks, were:

Grace La, La Dallman, Milwaukee WI
Brian Healey, Brian Healey Architects, Somerville MA
David Miller, Miller Hull, Seattle WA

The jury awarded 8 Honor Awards. See the winners.

Awards Forms and Information
Young Architects Award
This award, modeled after the national AIA's Young Architects Award program, is given to individuals who, in an early stage of their architectural career, have shown exceptional leadership in service to the profession, the community, design, planning, and/or education. Those eligible include members of the AIA Minnesota who have been licensed to practice architecture less than 10 years are eligible to be nominated. (The term "young architect" has no reference to the age of nominee.) Winners of the Minnesota award are reviewed by the AIA Minnesota Board of Directors and considered for nomination for the national award program.

AIA National Young Architects Award Program

View the 2010 Young Architects Award Press Release (PDF)
View the Stephen Dwyer, AIA, 2011 AIA National Young Architect Release (PDF)
View the 2011 Young Architects Award Press Release (PDF)
(pictured below, l to r, the 2011 YA Winners: Maureen Ness Colburn, AIA and Rebecca Krull Kraling, AIA)



Nominations Due April 20, 2012
Submissions Due May 4, 2012
Judging May 10, 2012

25-Year Award
The 25-Year Award recognizes completed building projects, including individual buildings or groups of buildings, completed at least 25 but not more than 50 years ago. The projects must have been designed by firms with architects registered and practicing professionally in Minnesota.

Congratulations to the 2011 25-Year Award Recipient!
The Lake Harriet Band Shell, designed by Bentz/Thompson/Rietow, is the recipient of the prestigious 2011 AIA Minnesota 25-Year Award. Project team members include, Milo Thompson, FAIA, Frederick Bentz, AIA and Robert Rietow, AIA.
View the 2011 25-Year Award Press Release.



View the 2010 25-Year Award Press Release.

25-Year Award Submissions Due May 4, 2012
Judging end of May, 2011

Special Award
The Special Award is an award category that has become an increasingly important part of the Awards Program. There is a strong need to encourage, stimulate and recognize exceptional contributions of individuals and organizations improving the quality of our physical environment.


The AIA Minnesota Committee on Design has selected Damon Farber and the McKnight Foundation as recipients of the 2011 Special Award. Read more here.

Special Award Submissions Due August 3, 2012
Judging August 9, 2012

Louis Lundgren Award
AIA Minnesota seeks to encourage, stimulate and recognize exceptional individual volunteerism. Volunteering is a member's purest means of giving something back to the profession and community. The individual should exemplify unfailing commitment to the goals of AIA Minnesota, foster the advancement of the Institute at a national or regional level, and be a leader to the public. Any member of AIA Minnesota may nominate candidates providing the candidate is a member of AIA Minnesota for a period of not less than ten years and a member in good standing at the time of nomination. Emeritus members and self-nominations are eligible.

Doug Westby, AIA is the recipient of the AIA Minnesota 2011 Louis Lundgren Award. This award recognizes individuals for their dedication to the profession of architecture through their volunteer activities in our communities and with the AIA. AIA Minnesota’s Committee on Design considered Westby’s volunteerism to be exemplary. Read more here.

View previous award winners.

Louis Lundgren Award Submissions Due August 3, 2012
Judging August 9, 2012

Honor Awards
The jury recruited for this competition has national and international credibility, giving the award-winning architects and the public an idea of the caliber of work created by Minnesota architects and how they rate on a worldwide scale.


The jury awarded 8 projects in 2011. See the winners and list of submissions.

Honor Award Submissions Due September 28, 2012
Judging November, 2012
Questions? Contact Stephanie Pelzer.

Firm Award
In 2005, AIA Minnesota reorganized the selection process for determining the AIA Minnesota Firm Award and the AIA Minnesota Gold Medal Award. In an effort to involve more members in the process we have created a Selection Committee, which consists of Board Members, Fellows, previous Firm/Gold Medal Award recipients and the Chair of the Awards Committee.

AIA Minnesota is pleased to recognize MacDonald and Mack Architects, Ltd. with its 2011 Firm Award. Given biennially, this prestigious award is presented to firms that have contributed to the advancement of the profession in the areas of technology, service and design.

MacDonald and Mack, a Minneapolis firm of eight, has a reputation for meticulous research and rigorous application of preservation standards, meriting numerous awards. These awards range from a special new AIA Minnesota preservation category in 1990 for the Purcell Cutts House, to the 2001 National Trust for Historic Preservation Award for Redeemer Missionary Baptist Church, to the 2004 Honor Award from Preservation Alliance of Minnesota for the Chaska History Center and Saarinen’s Christ Church Lutheran, a National Historic Landmark and the winner of the AIA 25 Year Award.
See the 2011 Firm Award Press Release (pdf)

If you have a firm to nominate for 2013, please contact Beverly Hauschild-Baron.
Firm Award nominations are due April 2013.


Gold Medal
AIA Minnesota's highest award bestowed on an individual member. It serves as recognition for a lifetime of distinguished achievement and significant contributions to architecture. The 2010 recipient is Edward Kodet, Jr., FAIA. Kodet founded Kodet Architectural Group, Ltd., in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983, after 13 years of experience as a firm partner at a previous firm. Kodet’s achievements as an architect and educator along with his service to the profession over his career have proven exemplary and inspirational, noted the jury. Kodet is a member of AIA’s College of Fellows, serving as Chancellor in 2010, and has held numerous national positions within the profession including serving as the AIA North Central States Regional Director, American Architectural Foundation as Regent and the chair of two Gold Medal and Firm Award juries, most recently as the nominator for AIA Gold Medal recipient Santiago Calatrava, FAIA. Kodet’s work at the national level throughout his career would be difficult to mirror, said the jury. It’s clearly inspired by his view of architecture as a passion, avocation and hobby. Kodet summarized, “AIA has always been a forum for me to advocate for the profession how the profession can enhance everyday lives, enrich cities and provide inspiration for society.”

If you have an architect to nominate for 2012, please contact Beverly Hauschild-Baron.
Gold Medal nominations will be due in April 2012.

2011 Awards Schedule

Firm Award and Gold Medal Award:
If you have an architecture firm to nominate for 2011, please contact Beverly Hauschild-Baron.
Firm Award nominations will be due in June 2011.

Young Architects Award:
Nominations due April 15, 2011
Submissions due May 6, 2011
Judging May 12, 2011

25-Year Award:
Submissions due May 6, 2011
Judging end of May, 2011

Special Award:
Submissions due August 5, 2011
Judging August 11, 2011

Louis Lundgren Award:
Nominations due August 5, 2011
Judging August 11, 2011

Honor Award:
Submissions due September 30, 2011
Judging November 9-10, 2011

Past Award Recipients and Events
AWARDS ARCHIVES

Photo Gallery of the 2007 Awards Celebration
Photo Gallery of the 2006 Awards Celebration
All AIA Minnesota Honor Award Winners (PDF, 12 pages )
AIA Minnesota 2008 Honor Award Winners (PPT)