Complete the registration form at uli.org/hines2021 by December 4 to register a team. Read the instructions below and view a Sample Registration Form.

If you missed our Q&A sessions, you can view a recording here, using the password CsUh!b52. Start viewing at 6:10. You can also view the slides from our Q&A info session.

ULI invites teams from accredited educational institutions worldwide to participate in the 2021 competition. Students in Europe also can compete in the ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe.

For details about team composition requirements, visit the How to Form a Team section on this page.

How the Competition Works

Registration

Through the fall semester, students form teams and register those teams with ULI. ULI staff review all application materials and confirm whether teams meet the eligibility requirements to compete.

First Round

On the first day of the competition in January, ULI sends the challenge brief to all team members and announces the host city and site. The challenge brief describes the specific challenge and deliverables for the competition. You can find an example of a challenge brief here. For the next 15 days, team members work together to create a proposal for the site that meets the requirements in the challenge brief. Teams meet in person or virtually if team members are remote, and consult with their faculty and professional advisers. Teams must submit all required documents by the deadline. ULI staff review all submitted materials to confirm whether submissions are complete. You can find examples of past submissions online by clicking on Previous Winners and Finalists on this website. There are no live presentations during this round.

Finalist Round

In February, a jury of ULI members evaluates all complete entries and selects those teams that will receive an honorable mention and the four finalist teams that advance to the second phase of the competition. All submissions are anonymous to the jury; they do not see team members or school names before making their selections. ULI alerts all teams of their status by late February. Finalist teams refine their original proposal with feedback from the jury, submit revised documents, and prepare to present their proposals live to the jury in April.

Site Visit

Typically, one member of each finalist team receives an all-expenses-paid trip in March to join a tour of the competition site and receive a briefing on it from local stakeholders. In 2021, this briefing is likely to be virtual and open to all finalist team members. Typically, at the finals in April, all finalists teams first present in-person to a Rehearsal Jury of local ULI members to get feedback on their presentation the day before they present to the Competition Jury. In 2021, the presentation to the Rehearsal Jury is likely to be virtual and to take place in March rather than April.

Finals

Typically, all finalist team members receive an all-expenses-paid trip to meet in the host city in April for two days of live public presentation of their proposal and Q&A sessions with jury members. In 2021, the finals may again be virtual in April, like they were in 2020. After jury deliberations, the jury chair announces the winning team the same day. The grand prize is $50,000, of which $5,000 goes to the team’s school(s). The remaining three finalist teams each receive $10,000.

A note on the 2021 competition

ULI understands that students face many challenges to forming teams and competing this year. In 2021, we will not require teams to send physical copies of their submission to ULI. And, while the registration deadline is December 4, 2020, we will consider extending the deadline only to teams that have one or more team members who were not enrolled during the fall 2020 semester but will be enrolled full time in the spring 2021 semester. Please reach out to us via HinesCompetition@uli.org to discuss and we will make allowances on a case-by-case basis.

Application Overview

Teams that wish to compete must submit the following information via an online application:

• Name and contact information for all five team members;
• Degree program information for all five team members;
• A one-page résumé for each of the five team members;
• Names and contact information for the team’s faculty advisers (up to two allowed from different disciplines);
• Names and contact information for the team’s professional advisers;
• Signature of the department head of the sponsoring school; and
• Verification forms for each team member who is a part-time graduate student or a fifth-year eligible undergraduate student, such as BArch or BLA student.

Application Instructions

Review the eligibility requirements below, form your team, and complete the online application at http://www.uli.org/hines2021. We will discard any applications submitted by e-mail.

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST WEEK TO APPLY! The submission form requires a lot of information and asks you to submit faculty references so that ULI can determine the eligibility of your team. You will receive quicker responses to your questions and have an easier time if you start the application process early. You can save the form and come back to it.

Eligibility

Ineligible to compete are members of the jury; the competition faculty and professional advisers; all officials, current employees, and recent former employees of ULI; the employees, students, and immediate family members of any of these parties; and those whom ULI deems to present a conflict of interest; and all students from the finalist teams in the 2019 and 2020 competitions.

ULI reserves the right to disqualify teams, limit the number of teams that can participate in the competition, and select teams for participation based on geographic diversity, team statements, team makeup, university diversity, or other criteria listed in the competition guidelines.

How to Form a Team

There is no limit to how many teams may be formed at a given college or university. Intercollegiate teams and teams with members in different states and countries are welcome and have been successful in the competition.

Team Composition

At this time, we do not have the capacity to allow more undergraduates to compete. Please do not email us to ask for an exception to this long-standing requirement.

• Each team must be composed of five graduate students. Undergraduates in the fifth year of a five-year pre-professional program, such as a BLA or BArch, also may compete.
• The team members must represent a minimum of three disciplines that grant three different degrees, one of which must be a non-design-related discipline. Your team is not likely to advance to the finalist round without a team member with strong graphic skills. ULI does not consider team members’ undergraduate degrees when determining whether the team meets the interdisciplinary requirements.
• For example, a team could consist of the following (these are just examples, there are other variations that can work):

2 architecture (MArch) students
2 landscape architecture (MLA) students
1 business (MBA) student

1 architecture (MArch) student
1 planning (MCP) student
1 historic preservation (MHP) student
1 real estate finance (MS) student
1 real estate development (MRED) student

1 urban design (MUD) student
2 landscape architecture (MLA) students
1 planning (MCP) student
1 real estate development (MRED) student

2 business (MBA) students
1 planning (MCP) student
1 landscape architecture (MLA) student
1 architecture (MArch) student

• Each student team member must be a currently enrolled full-time as a graduate student in a degree-granting program.
  • Exception: Part-time graduate students may participate in the competition provided that they have completed one semester by the start of the competition and they will be a part-time student during the entire competition period of January 11 to April 30, 2021. During team registration, they must submit to ULI a verification of their status from a director of their program. They can request this verification via the online registration form.
    
• Students from different educational institutions may form a single team, as long as all other individual and team requirements are satisfied. For example, if your university does not offer a landscape architecture program and you would like to have that discipline represented in your team, you can work with another university to achieve the mix you seek. As one example, the 2020 winning team was composed of students from two different universities.
• Students enrolled in dual-degree programs must designate which degree program they represent on the team for the purposes of the team composition requirements. For example, a student who is enrolled in a joint MRED/MArch program must state which discipline they are representing on the team.
• The only exceptions to these formulas for team formation are at universities where the graduate degree itself is considered a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary degree. This is very rare, but if you think this might apply to your team, please e-mail hinescompetition@uli.org before the application deadline.
• Once the team has registered, it must remain intact throughout the entire process. We allow you to replace a student team members only in extraordinary circumstances and with written approval from ULI. If a member of a registered team decides not to continue, the team must replace the departing member and must still satisfying the requirements for team composition.
• Team members—students, faculty, outside professionals—are not required to be members of ULI.

Communication with ULI

• Each team must designate one student member as the team leader who will act as a contact person with ULI.
• Please note that because of the volume of requests, and in order to guarantee the standards of the competition, ULI does not accept any phone calls related to this competition. Address questions and comments to hinescompetition@uli.org.

Faculty and Professional Advisers

• Each team must have at least one faculty adviser from its university. The faculty adviser can be from any program. This faculty member serves only in an advisory role, they may not be an active team participant or a direct participant in the production of any competition materials.
• Teams can have a second optional faculty adviser. If your team has two faculty advisers, we recommend that they represent different disciplines.
• Each team must have a program head approve its application. The program head might be a program director, department chair, or dean. The individual who approves the application does not have to be the faculty adviser. By approving the application, the program head confirms that all team members are full-time graduate students enrolled for the spring 2020 semester (or part-time or undergraduate under the exceptions noted above) and that the university is committed to supporting the team’s efforts.
• Each team has the option of using outside professionals who agree to act as  additional advisers. The professional advisers, like the faculty advisers, may not be an active team participant or a direct participant in the production of any competition materials. In the past we have limited teams to two professional advisers. In 2021, teams are not limited in the number of professional advisers they can have. If there is a local real estate professional with whom you would like to work, feel free to contact him or her directly. If you need help finding a local real estate professional, you may e-mail your local ULI district council for assistance (see the complete list of District Councils). If outside design professionals are not available through the local ULI district council, we recommend you contact your local chapter of the American Institute of Architects or the American Society of Landscape Architects. If you need further assistance, please e-mail hinescompetition@uli.org.
  

Reasons for Disqualification

A team can be disqualified if:

• it does not have the proper number or mix of students
• it does not have a faculty adviser
• it does not have the endorsement of its school/department/program head
• its application is late
• it does not include all the necessary documentation with the application