Celebrating the merit and breadth of firms across the AEC industry
ABOUT THE 2024 BEST OF PRACTICE AWARDS
The Architect’s Newspaper’s Best of Practice Awards is back for its fourth edition. While our Best of Design awards seek out the best projects and Best of Products commends the objects and finishes used to build them, Best of Practice celebrates the companies that create our built environment, from architects to developers, fabricators, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects, lighting designers, and more.
Best of Practice recognizes business excellence from across the AEC industry and throughout North America through its 20 categories and seven regions
What makes a business worthy of recognition? AN’s jury of esteemed practitioners and educators will examine offices with an eye towards three criteria: design, culture, and social impact. Design considers the company’s work product and evaluates the level of quality present in completed projects. Culture considers the internal experience and operations that can best support their employees and create an office culture that prizes advancement, achievement, and diversity. Finally, social impact looks at how a firm engages with its community to envision and enact a better world.
A full list of categories, submission guidelines, and eligibility can be found below. The 2024 awards program kicks off January 22, with early bird entries due by March 8 (midnight ET) and the submission period running through April 19 (midnight ET).
Winners will be announced on archpaper.com in late June, and winners will receive a specially designed trophy. They will also be featured in AN’s end-of-the-year Best Of 2024 award magazine and promoted across our social media channels. More details to be announced soon.
PUBLICATION AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS
Winning firms will be published in print in AN’s Best of 2024 issue, which will arrive in December. Photos, descriptions, and juror comments will appear in this print publication that reaches readers nationwide and is distributed at industry events and conferences throughout 2024.
Winner announcements will also be featured on our website, reaching a national and international audience, and will be promoted on all AN social media platforms. Be seen by 1 Million+ AN readers and members of the AEC design community!
JURY
CATEGORIES PER SEVEN REGIONS
Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, West, Canada, and Mexico
Regional
- Architect (XL Firm) (100+ Employees)
- Architect (Large Firm) (50-99 employees)
- Architect (Medium Firm) (10-49 employees)
- Architect (Small Firm) (Under 10 Employees)
- Architect (New Firm) (Founded within last 3 years)
- Interior Designer
- Landscape Architect
Non-regional
- Acoustic Consultant/Engineer
- Developer
- Fabricator
- Facade Consultant
- General Contractor
- Graphic Design & Wayfinding
- Lighting Designer
- MEP Engineer
- Photography Studio
- Render & Visualization
- Structural Engineer
- Sustainability Consultant
- Technology
AWARD DATES & DETAILS
LAUNCH
Monday, January 22, 2024
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION
$245 until March 8 (midnight ET)
EMERGING EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION
$125 until March 8 (midnight ET)
REGULAR REGISTRATION
$295 until April 19 (midnight ET)
EMERGING EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION
$150 until April 19 (midnight ET)
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Friday, April 19, 2024 (midnight ET)
EMERGING FIRM DISCOUNT
To uplift new business across all categories, AN offers practices that have been founded within the last 5 years a discounted entry free. To redeem, use code EMERGING1 at check out during the Early Bird Registration window to receive a reduced rate of $125. After Early Bird ends, use code EMERGING2 during the regular registration period for the reduced rate of $150. Note that each code may only be used once per user and applications may be deemed disqualified should a company redeem a code that is not emerging.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
ELIGIBILITY
AN’s Best of Practice Awards is open to all North American offices, though submitted projects or case studies may be international.
Entrants are asked to submit a 500-word statement making the case for excellence in practice. The statement should describe the way the office operates, which could include its philosophy of design, the culture promoted within the office, how employee growth is cultivated, how the office interacts with the public and/or communities, the office’s position on sustainability and the environment, the office’s investment in research and technology, or any other salient feature of the practice.
Entrants should also submit up to 10 images/slides that support the statement. These items can include photography and/or drawings of projects or the office itself, graphs and/or charts that illustrate claims made in the statement, testimonials from clients or community groups, articles published about the office and/or its work, and any other document that backs up the office’s claim to excellence.
Representatives of offices or developers and public relations professionals are allowed to submit on behalf of their clients. Please provide your direct contact information, but include the name of the entrant in the “Company” field on the registration form.
MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS
Registration must be completed via the registration portal at the top of the page. Submissions must include up to 10 images and/or supporting documents and a written statement about the practice (500-word limit). An optional, one-page client testimonial (preferably featuring the company letterhead) may also be included that describes the experience of working with the company.
Digital specs:
File format: JPG
Image format: Landscape
Color format: RGB
File size: Images/slides should be 3,000 pixels wide on the long side.
Label image file names in sequence. Include photography credits in image file names where necessary.
While text is welcome as part of diagrams or other slides, please refrain from adding text to photographs.
When submitting photography, only include one image per file. Do not combine images unless it is part of a larger graphic. Do not upsample images; if photographs aren’t available at the file size listed above, provide in the largest available dimensions.
All submissions must be entered online and received by AN no later than midnight ET on the submission deadline. The Architect’s Newspaper reserves publication rights for all materials submitted as part of the Best of Practice Awards program, extending to all forms of media or content delivery, whether print, online, digital, mobile or otherwise, now or hereafter created.
Registration fees are nonrefundable.
Once a submission is completed and uploaded, you cannot return to the application to make changes.
Submission is no guarantee of publication or an award.
ABOUT AN MEDIA GROUP
The Architect’s Newspaper provides timely news and cultural reporting on the built environment through a nationally distributed monthly newspaper as well as a design magazine, AN Interior, online at archpaper.com, and through a series of email newsletters. Every issue delivers our trademark blend of topical essays, opinionated columns, project analyses, firm profiles, interviews, new products, reviews of exhibitions and books, and calendars of events in a handy and handsome full-color tabloid and a quarterly magazine. AN reaches a highly engaged online community of hundreds of thousands through our web and social media platforms. AN is the must-read publication for architects, planners, landscape architects, designers, and allied professionals. Learn more about AN Media Group and our other brands at: https://anmediagroup.com/
CONTACT US
For all inquiries about AN’s Best of awards programs, fill in the form, or email us directly competitions@archpaper.com