Architect & Designer Awards

Now Accepting Entries

Design STL proudly presents the 16th annual Architect & Designer Awards, a local competition for architects, commercial and residential interior designers, artisans, builders, and landscape designers. ADA is the only local design competition juried by an esteemed panel of judges. Submit your outstanding projects for a chance to be recognized among some of the leading names in the local design community. See submission information and important dates below. Entries will be accepted through October 15, 2022. 

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: SAVE 20% ON YOUR SUBMISSIONS WHEN YOU ENTER BY OCTOBER 1!

Please read the entry information below before submitting your work.

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Early Bird deadline (receive 20% off submission fees when you enter by October 1)

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Deadline to submit entries

JANUARY 2023

Finalists are notified

SPRING 2023

Winners announced to the public 

HOME

Historic residential renovation/restoration project (mid-1800s–1970)

Remodel (excludes kitchens and baths)

Addition

New build

Vacation home or second residence outside of St. Louis

House of the year (include three exterior and four interior images)

OUTDOORS

Residential swimming pool, spa or water feature

Residential landscape design (includes brick and stone work)

Best of outdoor living (deck, patio, terrace, pool house, or porch)

INTERIOR DESIGN

Powder room

Modern bath (less than 150 sq. ft.)

Modern bath (greater than 150 sq. ft.)

Traditional bath (less than 150 sq. ft.)

Traditional bath (greater than 150 sq. ft.)

Modern kitchen (less than 300 sq. ft.)

Modern kitchen (greater than 300 sq. ft.)

Traditional kitchen (less than 300 sq. ft.)

Traditional kitchen (more than 300 sq. ft.)

Dining room

Great room

Main bedroom

Children’s room

Lower level

Home office/library

Foyer

Fireplace

Specialty room (such as a wine cellar, movie theater, game room, garage, laundry room, or closet)

Traditional interior design (excludes kitchens and baths)

Modern interior design (excludes kitchens and baths)

Millwork

Use of fabric or wall covering

Window treatment design

Use of color

Custom furniture design

COMMERCIAL DESIGN

Retail

Restaurant

Hotel

SMALL SPACES

Apartment Living (to qualify for this category, living space should measure less than 2,000 sq. ft.; please include 2–3 photos from one project)

For questions regarding the contest rules, regulations, and categories, email Veronica Theodoro, editor-in-chief of Design STL at vtheodoro@stlmag.com. For sponsorship information, please email advertising and marketing coordinator Lauren Leppert at lleppert@stlmag.com.

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ELIGIBILITY

All design work, installation, and/or construction must have been completed within the past four years. Landscape projects need to have been completed in the past five years. Any entries that have been published in other local shelter magazines are not accepted, but any work that has been featured in national publications is accepted. Entries that have won or have been submitted to other national competitions are allowed, but previous entries to the Design STL Architect and Designer Awards (2007–2022) are not allowed. Competition is open to both firms and individuals who have completed work in Missouri and elsewhere.

HOW TO ENTER

To be directed to the Submittable entry page, click here or click the “Submit Your Work” button above. If you do not already have an account with Submittable, you will be prompted to set up an account with an email and password. After setting up an account, you will be automatically directed to the ADA form, where you can enter your project details and images. You may leave an unfinished form and complete it later by logging into submittable.com with your email and password. When filling out the application, periodically push the “Save” button at the bottom of the page, so you do not lose your work. After you have filled out all of the information in the application, select the correct payment amount from the dropdown menu, and submit your payment information at the bottom of the page. Click “Enter” to submit entry. (Pricing will vary depending on the number of entrants included in your application. See the “Fee Structure” section for more information.)

HOW TO SUBMIT MULTIPLE ENTRIES

A single entry may be entered in no more than four categories. If you submit the same project in multiple categories, please use the same project title. After you submit your first application, a follow-up email with a link to submit additional applications will be sent to the email that you used to register your account. Follow the link included in the email or revisit this page (stlmag.com/ada) and click “Submit Your Work” again to submit an additional application. There is no limit to the number of projects that you may enter.

PROJECT IMAGES

Each entry must be accompanied by at least one and no more than seven high-resolution images. Each image should be 300 dpi and at least 1,000 px wide. Please upload your appropriately named images via the online submission form. Acceptable formats are jpeg, tiff, eps, or psd with a size limitation of 30MB per image.

PROJECT CONCEPT & DESCRIPTION

In the online form, please provide a brief overview in paragraph form (300-word maximum) detailing significant aspects of the project. The statement should discuss design challenges, design solutions, and all other pertinent aspects. Please write in complete sentences, and do not include the name of your company, designer, or architect in the description.

JUDGING

An independent panel is selected from outside Missouri. Judges are nationally and internationally recognized names from the interior design and architecture industries. For the list of judges and bios, please see below. All judges’ decisions are final.

DEADLINE

All entries must be submitted and paid in full, via Submittable by the deadline listed under the "Important Dates" section.

FEE STRUCTURE

For the first time ever, we are offering an Early Bird discount for projects entered by October 1. Projects submitted before October 1 will be 20% off the standard application fee.

- Application fee before October 1: $60–$100 (nonrefundable).

- Application fee after October 1: $75–$125 (nonrefundable). 

- Entry fees are payable via the Submittable entry form, which accepts PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. Entry fee will not be returned even if project entry is determined to be ineligible or disqualified.

- You can include up to three entrants per application. The price of your submission will increase by $25 for each additional entrant (or $20 with the Early Bird discount). If you are the only entrant on the application, the cost of the application would be $75 (or $60 with the Early Bird discount). If you’re submitting your submission with another entrant, the total cost of your entry would be $100 (or $80 with the Early Bird discount). The cost for three additional entrants would be $125 (or $100 for the Early Bird discount).

- Additional project contributors will not be mentioned at the awards reception or in Design STL unless they are listed as a entrant on the application.

PHOTOGRAPHY TERMS

We strongly advise the photos be shot by a professional photographer. Entrants must secure and submit royalty/reuse-free photos from their photographer before submitting images (to run in Design STL and stlmag.com at no additional charge). All photography submitted may be published free of charge by Design STL. It’s the entrant’s responsibility to inform the photographer of these terms.

GUIDELINES & ADDITIONAL TERMS

Images and text from winning entries become the property of Design STL and SLM Media Group, which retains legal/publishing rights from submission for one year.