Edmonton Urban Design Awards

Get ready for the 2025 Edmonton Design Awards!

Urban design and architectural excellence play a critical role in enhancing the quality of life in Canadian cities. The Edmonton Urban Design Awards were established in 2005 to recognize individuals, organizations, firms and projects that have contributed to enhancing the quality of life in Edmonton. We invite you to participate in this celebration of excellence.

The Edmonton Urban Design Awards are delivered in partnership with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and the Canadian Institute of Planners.

Key Dates

July 14, 2025-Competition opens
August 11, 2025-Competition closes at 4pm
November 20, 2025-Winners announced at City Hall

Award Categories

The Edmonton Urban Design Awards celebrate a variety of projects of all scales and types. Projects can be submitted under one of the following categories:

Special Recognition for Accessibility

Accessibility is a core criteria in the evaluation of all projects. In addition to this foundational standard, the jury may also give special recognition to projects that demonstrate exceptional innovation or leadership in creating an accessible built environment.

People’s Choice Award

All projects reviewed by the judges will be automatically eligible for the People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award is chosen by Edmontonians and encourages public conversation about good design while promoting the local design community.

Student Mentoring

This year, Media Art Design Edmonton (MADE) will be supporting students in crafting compelling, well-considered, and visually refined submissions. MADE has compiled a guidebook to help students in preparing their submissions. They are also offering information sessions and individual mentoring to students who would like more feedback before submitting.

To take advantage of this opportunity, please register for a session with MADE.

Submission Deadlines and Fees

All entries are to be submitted online through the competition website by August 11, 2025 at 4pm local time (Mountain Standard Time). Competitors are encouraged to submit their submissions as soon as possible to avoid any potential difficulties at the deadline.

A $100.00 CAD submission fee must be made online at the time of your submission. Please see the Urban Design Awards website for more information. Please note there is no submission fee for student submissions.

Registration fees will not be refunded under any circumstances.

Submission Requirements

Submissions must be digital only; no hard copies will be accepted. Submissions must include:

Maximum one submission board, 23 x 30 inches (584mm X 762mm), including a ½ inch (13mm) white margin, portrait layout, PDF format, 25MB maximum file size
Design narrative (maximum 350 words)
Minimum five project images, jpg format, 25 MB maximum file size (each)

Complete information regarding the submission requirements will be available in the submission form which will be made available on July 14, 2025.

Judging Process

Submissions will be evaluated in late September 2025. The jury will adjudicate virtually, evaluating submissions collaboratively to arrive at a collective decision.

Judging Details

Submissions which do not meet the evaluation criteria may be excluded from the judging process. Submissions must demonstrate how the evaluation criteria of the respective category have been met (see above). The jury will be responsible for selecting the winning submissions that most completely satisfy all the criteria in each of the categories.

Submissions that do not meet the submission requirements (see above) will not be advanced to the jury; rationale explaining this rejection will be prepared, and available to the entrant upon request. There will be no appeal of this decision.

Awards will be given at the sole discretion of the jury. Decisions formed by the jury are final and may not be appealed. There is no limit to the number of awards that may be given. There is no guarantee that any awards will be given in each category. The jury has the discretion to move a project to a different category, or multiple categories other than the one selected at the time of submission.

Rationale for each of the winners will be explained in the publicized awards booklet. Submissions reviewed by the jury will be publicized and featured on the competition website for an online vote to determine the winner of the People’s Choice Award.

Get ready for the 2025 Edmonton Design Awards!

Key Dates

Award Categories

Jury

Making a Submission

Submission Deadlines and Fees

Submission Requirements

Judging Process

Judging Details

Past Winners

Contact Us

Peter Spearey

Edmonton Urban Design Awards

Get ready for the 2025 Edmonton Design Awards!

Key Dates

Award Categories

Jury

Submission Deadlines and Fees

Submission Requirements

Judging Process

Judging Details

Related Documents

Related Links

Contact Us

Peter Spearey