2025 Design Awards Gala

What Are The Awards?
Project Submission Portal
2025 Design Awards Jury
Nominate a Winner

What are the AIA East Tennessee Design Awards?

To recognize excellence in architecture, AIA East Tennessee conducts an annual juried Design Awards program. This program seeks to honor built and unbuilt works of distinction designed by AIA East TN members and to serve as a catalyst for local participation in the AIA Tennessee Awards program. The program also brings public attention to outstanding examples of architecture, cultivating an ongoing public interest in architectural excellence. This year’s award winners will be announced and celebrated at our 2025 Design Awards Gala on Thursday, October 2nd. All AIA East Tennessee members are eligible to submit a project for an award.

Rules, Timeline and Submission Form

2025 Design Awards Gala

Join AIA East Tennessee on Thursday, October 2nd in the heart of the Old City as we honor and celebrate built and unbuilt works of architecture designed by our members during our annual Design Awards Gala – presented by SESCO Lighting – at Jackson Terminal.

Evening Schedule Coming Soon!

Ticket Prices:
$35 – Student or Associate AIA Member
$60 – AIA Member (includes Allied)
$80 – Non-AIA Member
$500 – AIA Member, Full Table
$600 – Non-Member, Full Table

Purchase Tickets Here

2025 Jury

Mark's Bio
Matt's Bio
Claire's Bio
Elizabeth's Bio

2025 Design Awards Jury Coordinator

Andrew Newman, AIA – BarberMcMurry Architects

Gold Medal and Friend of Architecture Awards

Brandon Pace, FAIA- 2024 Gold Medal Winner

John Sanders, FAIA- 2024 Gold Medal Winner

Gold Medal Award

The Gold Medal is the AIA East Tennessee Chapter’s highest honor.

The award recognizes individuals whose work has had a lasting influence on the theory or practice of architecture. The Gold Medal is open to an architect (living or deceased), or architects, who have created a body of distinguished work.

The Board of Directors evaluates candidates based on how well they meet this criterion, which includes how their contributions have:

  • Demonstrated great depth and breadth
  • Having a cumulative effect on the profession
  • Addressed the future of architecture while honoring its tradition
  • Transcended or united specific areas of expertise
  • Become widely known—by architects, designers, educators, and the public—for the quality of their work

CLICK HERE to learn more about and nominate someone for the Gold Medal Award.

We are accepting nominations for our 2025 Gold Medal Award until August 18th!

Dr. Robert ‘Bob’ J. Booker- 2024 Friend of Architecture Winner (posthumously)

Friend of Architecture Award

The Friend of Architecture Award is bestowed on an individual or organization that has demonstrated significant support to architecture but is not a practitioner or architectural firm.

The Board evaluates candidates based on how well they meet this criterion, which includes how their contributions have:

  • Demonstrated great support of architecture an/or architects in the public realm.
  • Had a positive, cumulative effect if the profession.
  • Supported the future of architecture, while honoring its tradition.
  • Is or was widely known by architects for their role in contributing to the profession.

CLICK HERE to learn more about and nominate someone for the Friend of Architecture Award. We are accepting nominations for our 2025 Friend of Architecture Award until August 18th!

2025 Design Awards Gala Sponsors

Sponsors like the fantastic folks below have signed up to help create an amazing atmosphere for our 2025 Design Awards Gala and to get their business out in front of sought-after firms throughout East Tennessee. Please browse our sponsorship opportunities via our Partnership Shop or contact Dustin Durham at dustin@aiaetn.org if you have any questions.

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Mark Sanderson, FAIA
Jury Chair

Mark Sanderson is a Principal and co-founder of DIGSAU, a collaborative architecture studio known for its commitment to design excellence, social and ecological sustainability, and cultural relevance. Since 2007, the firm has built a reputation for innovative, socially engaged work that strengthens connections between people and place. Mark brings inventive design thinking and meticulous execution to various projects, from single-family homes to cultural, educational, and workplace environments. He has been instrumental in shaping DIGSAU’s design culture, leading to widespread recognition from the American Institute of Architects, Urban Land Institute, and others. Under his leadership, the firm has received over 80 design awards, including the AIA Pennsylvania Firm Award in 2017, and was named an Emerging Voices firm by the Architectural League of New York in 2013. Mark also contributes to the broader design community as a lecturer and guest critic at architecture schools nationwide.

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Matthew Kreilich, FAIA
Jury Member

Matthew Kreilich is a Design Principal at Snow Kreilich Architects in Minneapolis, Minnesota—a firm recognized with the 2018 AIA Architecture Firm Award. This accolade celebrates consistently producing distinguished architecture for at least a decade. Matt spearheads the studio’s operations and provides design leadership across many projects. At the core of the firm’s collaborative ethos, he actively engages in strategic planning and detailed design resolution. He has also taught at the University of Minnesota and Syracuse University. Matt’s commitment to advancing architectural excellence extends beyond the studio and classroom. He actively engages academic and professional audiences through lectures, enriching contemporary architecture and design discourse.

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Claire Weisz, FAIA
Jury Member

Claire Weisz, FAIA, Hon. FRAIC, Hon. ASLA, is a leading architect, urbanist, and founding principal of WXY architecture + urban design. She has built a globally recognized practice known for its community-centered, equitable approach to planning and design. Under Claire’s leadership, WXY has been honored as AIA New York State’s Firm of the Year and named among Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative architecture firms. She was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2017 and received the AIANY Medal of Honor in 2018. In 2019, Architectural Record recognized her with its Women in Architecture Innovator award, celebrating her impact as a design leader. In 2024, she was named an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, recognizing her interdisciplinary contributions to urban landscape and public space design.

 

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Elizabeth Whittaker, FAIA
Jury Member

Elizabeth Whittaker is the founder and principal of Merge Architects. She established the firm in 2003 to develop contemporary craft, reinterpret typologies, and shape the social ecology of place. Her design leadership and management have fostered a diverse collective in which voices and skill sets merge to produce consistently creative and award-winning projects. She has lectured extensively in the U.S. and abroad on this work. She has also been widely published, including Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard issue, which named Merge a top ten global practice, and Architizer’s 2025 Top 5 Best Medium Firm Worldwide. 

Elizabeth also received the AIA Young Architects Award and the Architectural League of New York Emerging Voices Award. She was named Architectural Record’s 2017 Next Generation Leader, an honor bestowed upon one female architect in the U.S. annually. Elizabeth currently teaches at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design as an Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture, focusing on housing and social ecology.

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