What is Dezeen Awards?

Dezeen Awards is an annual awards programme identifying the world's best architecture, interiors and design projects, as well as the studios and the individual architects and designers producing the most outstanding work.

Organised by Dezeen, the world's most influential architecture and design media brand, Dezeen Awards is now in its ninth year and has become the benchmark for international design excellence and the ultimate accolade for architects and designers everywhere.

We've made some exciting changes for 2026, including introducing our Regional Showcases, which comprise three Top 50 lists that celebrate the best projects in three regions globally: Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Americas (AMER). Find out more about what's new here.

We're excited to announce our new headline partner, Trimble. Through its pioneering technology, including products such as visualisation and collaboration tool SketchUp, Trimble helps designers transform the way they shape spaces and buildings, as well as drive productivity in the process.

How to enter Dezeen Awards

You can visit the enter page to sign up and create your entry. Last year we introduced a new software called Evessio. If you entered last year, please use your Evessio login.

If you don't yet have an Evessio account, when prompted, please create an account with Evessio. This is very simple to do and you may even have one already if you have entered another Evessio-hosted awards programme in the past.

For more details on how to enter, visit the entry information page. The page contains information about entry fees and deadlines, which you can also find on the prices and dates page. For more detailed information, please refer to the terms and conditions.

Dezeen Awards 2026 closes for entries on 3 June. Please visit our prices and dates page for more details.

Why enter Dezeen Awards?

Dezeen Awards is organised by Dezeen and judged by a panel consisting of leading figures from the architecture and design world.

Dezeen Awards has unprecedented credibility and reach. Every winning entry will be published on Dezeen to our audience of three million and Dezeen's eight million social media following, as well as in Dezeen's newsletters to over half a million subscribers, bringing significant recognition to successful entrants. The whole world will know you've won!

All shortlisted projects will also be announced on Dezeen, while our new Regional Showcases will provide additional exposure with a focus on the best projects in three regions. We will also run a public vote and ask our readers to vote for their favourite shortlisted projects.

Winners are announced at the Dezeen Awards party in November, an award-winning event which brings together the design community, as well as our shortlisted studios. The event is attended by our judges and renowned industry professionals. All winners will also receive a trophy and a certificate.

What is different about Dezeen Awards?

There are lots of architecture and design awards out there but Dezeen Awards is different.

First, our low entry prices are designed to attract smaller studios and avoid categories being dominated by large companies that can afford to enter multiple categories.

Second, our judging criteria have been carefully considered to ensure that winning projects are not only beautiful and innovative but also strive to benefit users and the environment. We don't believe that good design today can ignore issues such as social impact or sustainability and we will be looking for projects that incorporate positive thinking in this area.

Third, our awards celebrate three sectors: architecture, interiors, and design, the key areas that Dezeen writes about. This means that Dezeen Awards is a comprehensive annual survey of the best work across the major fields of architecture and design.

Importantly, every entry will be asked to provide and will be judged against key sustainability information. In addition, our five sustainability awards, which entrants can now find within the architecture, interiors and design sectors, celebrate the most exemplary sustainable projects.

Judges

Dezeen Awards 2026 will be judged by an international panel comprising leading figures from the architecture, interiors and design world, as well as experts in sustainability.

Full details of the judging process can be found on the terms and conditions page.

What the judges are looking for

For the project categories, judges are looking for entries that best fit the three judging criteria. These are:

Beautiful: does it look amazing? We know that beauty is subjective but our judges will be looking out for aesthetic rigour, good detailing and good use of materials.

Innovative: does it incorporate original thinking or address a problem in a new way? We don't mean that every entry has to reinvent the wheel but we will be looking for evidence of fresh approaches and new ideas.

Beneficial: is it useful and considerate to both people and planet? Your project doesn't have to set out to save the world but it should show respect and consideration for users and the environment.

How do we judge?

Our judges are world-renowned experts in their respective fields. We bring together a diverse mixture of people from varied backgrounds and locations to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive judging process.

Judges score entries based on the above criteria. The three scores are combined to give an overall score for each entry and the highest-scoring entries will determine the shortlists.

A selection of our judges will meet at our master jury in September to discuss the highest-scoring entries and agree on the winner for each category.

Our new Regional Showcases will be judged by Dezeen's editors. Each project will be judged on the above criteria, with three scores again combined to give an overall score for each entry. Dezeen's editors will then meet to discuss the highest-scoring entries and agree on each Top 50 list.

What do you win?

All project category winners receive a trophy and a certificate, plus marketing material to promote themselves as a Dezeen Awards winner. All winners will have a dedicated page published on the Dezeen Awards website and will also be published on Dezeen, as well as across our social platforms including on Dezeen's Instagram, which has 3.6 million followers

Even if you don't win, it's a great honour to be shortlisted. Shortlisted entrants will also receive marketing material with which to promote themselves, as will the winners of the public vote and all studios with projects that feature in our three new Regional Showcases.

You can see 2025 winners here!

Note: once you've paid your entry fee there is no further obligatory payment to make. We do not charge fees for winners, trophies, publications or anything else. In the event that we hold a winners' ceremony, there will be a charge for this but attendance is not strictly obligatory.

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Contact us

If you have any questions about Dezeen Awards, including press and sponsorship enquiries, please email [email protected].