The Saint Paul Prize is a program of the AIA St. Paul chapter. Since its inception, the competition has been open exclusively to emerging professionals living and working in Minnesota, providing a platform to showcase their creativity and vision. 

In 2025, the competition expanded its scope to encourage broader participation and interdisciplinary collaboration. For the first time, eligibility included architecture students as well as multi-disciplinary teams. This change aims to foster diverse perspectives, promote cross-disciplinary innovation, and strengthen connections within the design community.

Participants are challenged to propose forward-thinking solutions that embody the spirit of design excellence, community engagement, and meaningful impact.

Individuals or teams of up to three (3) members may participate. Multi-disciplinary collaboration is strongly encouraged.

Each entry must have at least one participant who meets one of the following criteria:

• Emerging Professional
  • Graduated from an accredited professional architecture degree program within the past 10 years.
  • Currently living or working in Minnesota.
• Current Student
  • Enrolled in an architecture degree program at the University of Minnesota or Dunwoody College of Technology at the time of submission.

Prior AIA Saint Paul Prize recipients and current members of the AIA Saint Paul Board of Directors are not eligible to participate.