Awards

Design Awards

REMINDER: You must register for the conference prior to filling out the Submission Form. Upon registration, Dropbox folder details will be emailed to you for file upload.

Submission deadline: April 3, 2026.

Join us and submit your Architectural Exhibits to be displayed at the 2026 Annual North Carolina Conference in Wrightsville, NC, where we will honor the winners of the Design Awards.

Electronic Portfolio Requirements

Entries will be accepted for new or renovated educational projects designed and/or built within the past five (5) years in North Carolina. Firms and individuals are invited to submit up to three (3) projects per firm. In order to be considered for exhibit, firms must submit a Microsoft PowerPoint and high-resolution JPEGs of the slides.

Digital submissions for the competition are limited to twenty-five (25) Microsoft PowerPoint slides and must be submitted on the official template. Submissions not submitted on this template will not be considered. Click here to download the template.

The following three themes should be conveyed in the Microsoft PowerPoint slides

1. School & Community Engagement: Describe how the planning and design brought value to the community at large and/or responded to the function and identity of the school community.
2. Learning Environment: Describe how the learning environment supports a variety of learning styles and methods for delivering instruction.
3. Physical Environment: Describe the physical attributes of the learning environment and how it demonstrates appropriate use of materials, systems, and other building elements and relates to the existing site and the greater environment.
4. Core Needs: Often District’s have financial or resource limitations. Describe how creative design elements or differing delivery method were implemented to provide an impactful project that addressed the Clients core needs.

Planner of the Year Award

The annual Association for Learning Environments, North Carolina Chapter Planner of the Year Award is for educational facility planning excellence and is the highest and most distinguished honor conferred by our Chapter. Selection is made by the A4LE North Carolina Chapter Board.

Candidate Qualifications

• The candidate will preferably be an Association for Learning Environments member in good standing.
• The candidate must have been actively engaged in professional activities that involve PreK-12 facility administration, planning, design, construction, equipping or maintenance, or other professional activities that support PreK-12 education.
• The activities upon which the nomination is based shall have produced a body of work that consistently created a positive and significant impact on the learning environment.

Nomination

Nominations shall be submitted to Angela Crawford Easterday at [email protected] by 12:00 PM on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Submittal Materials

Nominations submittal must include the following:

• The nominee’s current resume or vita outlining their educational background and professional experience.
• An Executive Summary outlining the candidate’s professional career.
• A detailed statement on how the candidate’s work embodies the values and mission of A4LE and has advanced the development of effective learning environments.
• A detailed description of the candidate’s most singular outstanding contribution to the learning environment.
• Letters of reference from supervisors or clients, attesting to the candidate’s professional experience (minimum of three).
• Appendices including documents pertinent to the nomination that further explain the candidate’s contributions and/or the significance of the activity for which the nomination was made.

Format

Materials must be submitted electronically. The length of each section of the submittal package is up to the discretion of the candidate.

Judging Criteria

Category	Points
Quality of the contributions of the candidate’s entire body of work	40
Importance of the impact of the candidate’s singular outstanding contribution to the industry, materials presented in a clear, professional manner	25
Candidate’s work embodies the mission and values of A4LE	10
Quality of the letters of reference provided	15
Clarity and organization of the submission	10

Award Presentation

The presentation of the Planner of the Year Award will be made at the 2025 North Carolina Chapter Annual Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina. Finalists will also be recognized.