ULI Americas Awards for Excellence

2021 Submission form: uli.org/aae2021. See instructions and sample forms below. You will need a ULI account to login. Create a ULI account.

Fill out the form to receive updates on the ULI Americas Awards for Excellence here.

OVERVIEW

ULI began the Awards for Excellence program in 1979 to recognize truly superior development efforts in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Winning projects represent the highest standards of achievement in the development industry—standards that ULI members deem worthy of attainment in their professional endeavors. Today the real estate and land use industry widely recognizes the ULI Global Awards for Excellence as one of its most prestigious awards programs.

The Awards for Excellence recognize the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design—although these elements play an important role.

The Awards recognize both development projects and programs. Among projects, the Awards recognize a wide variety of product types, including office, residential, retail, industrial, hotel, mixed use, planned community, open space, and more. Programs are initiatives, processes, or policies that guide or enhance development.

A jury of ULI members chooses finalists and winners. Members of the jury are leaders who represent a broad geographic diversity and many areas of real estate and land use expertise, including finance, planning, development, public affairs, design, and professional services, among others.

From 2012 to 2019, the ULI Global Awards for Excellence honored development projects and programs from around the globe in a single competition. In 2021, projects and programs must first enter a regional award program. That means the ULI Awards for Excellence in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions serve as the first round for the 2021 ULI Global Awards for Excellence. Winners from the regional programs become finalists in the global awards.

AMERICAS SCHEDULE

Submissions Open – October 12, 2020

Early Bird Deadline – December 18, 2020
Deadline – January 8, 2021
Late Deadline – January 22, 2021

Finalists Announced – March/April 2021
Jury Finalist Interviews – March to May 2021
Winners Announced – May/June 2021

Winners become Finalists in the ULI Global Awards for Excellence.

GLOBAL SCHEDULE

See uli.org/gae

TO APPLY

Submissions are open to all, not just ULI members. We recommend you review these in the order listed.

  1. Read the submission instructions (last updated October 12, 2020);
  2. Download the PowerPoint presentation template (last updated October 12, 2020). Download an example of a PowerPoint based on 2020 ULI Urban Open Space Award-winning project Domino Park;
  3. Each image you upload to the submission form must have a caption and photographer credit. Review the example of a contact sheet from 2020 ULI Urban Open Space Award-winning project Domino Park; and
  4. Submit your entry online at uli.org/aae2021. You must have a ULI account to sign in. If you do not have an account, you can create a free account and then access the form. ULI accepts submissions through an online form only.

Review sample submission forms in PDF (last updated October 14, 2020)

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility – All submissions

  • You do not need to be a ULI member to submit.
  • The ULI Americas Awards are open to projects and programs in the ULI Americas region (North and South America).
  • INELIGIBLE: Any project or program that has previously won the ULI Global, Europe, or APAC Awards for Excellence or the ULI Urban Open Space Awards. Finalists that did not win these awards are eligible to submit.

PROJECTS are eligible to apply if they:

  • are financially viable; for public sector/nonprofit this means demonstrating a reasonable use of financial resources
  • are substantially complete (however, they need not be newly constructed); and
  • are in stabilized operation.

“Substantially complete” means a single-phase project must be finished, occupied, and in operation. Projects with multiple phases may submit complete phases of the project. For multiple-phase projects, at least the first phase must be finished, occupied, and in operation.

Small or less significant components of the project may be incomplete; we do not require a specific percentage, but we recommend that the project is 90% or more complete.

While you can submit projects as soon as they are complete, they are more likely to advance to the finals if they have been in operation at least a year or more. This is because more information is available to help the jury determine if the project has been successful.

Eligibility – Urban Open Spaces

In addition, Urban Open Spaces must be:

  1. predominantly outdoors; and
  2. open and inviting to the public.

PROGRAMS are eligible to apply if they:

  • are financially viable, if applicable; and
  • have been substantially implemented.

CATEGORIES

The Awards for Excellence have long recognized both development Projects and Programs.

PROGRAMS – Examples of programs include – but are not limited to – growth management strategies, publicly guided development programs and policies, and other built environment initiatives. If you are submitting a Program related to equity, resilience, or open space, please select the Program category.

PROJECTS – In 2021, the awards will recognize Projects in the following categories:

  • Open – All Project Types
    • A development project that is not pursuing the Equitable Development, Resilient Development, Small-Scale Development, or Urban Open Space sub-categories.
  • Equitable Development
    • The project demonstrates a more equitable approach to development. The submitter will need to respond to additional questions specific to this category.
  • Resilient Development
    • The project demonstrates a more resilient approach to development. The submitter will need to respond to additional questions specific to this category.
  • Small-Scale Development
    • A project that is under 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters).
  • Urban Open Space
    • A project that is predominantly outdoors and is open and inviting to the public. Includes parks, plazas, squares, memorials, trails, and other non-traditional park and open space formats. The submitter will need to respond to additional questions specific to this category.

SUBMISSION FEES

The ULI Americas Awards for Excellence have limited philanthropic sponsorship and submission fees help ULI cover the cost of delivering the awards, including creation of case studies and content for ULI members that is based on the award winning submissions. If you are interested in sponsorship of the awards or related events in 2021 or beyond, please email awards@uli.org. Submission fees for the 2021 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence are:

  • Early Bird Deadline – December 18, 2020 – 11:59pm EST
    • Public Sector/Non-Profit                                         $200 ($100 discount)
    • Private Sector                                                             $500 ($200 discount)
  • Deadline – January 8, 2021 – 11:59pm EST
    • Public Sector/Non-Profit                                          $300
    • Private Sector                                                             $700
  • Late Deadline – January 22, 2021 – 11:59pm EST
    • Public Sector/Non-Profit                                          $400 ($100 fee)
    • Private Sector                                                             $900 ($200 fee)

NOTES:

  1. The above fees apply to the type of company or organization submitting the application, not to the type of project.
  2. We have a limited number of full or partial fee waivers for Public Sector/Non-Profit organizations, where the fee is a barrier to entry. Please contact awards@uli.org to request a waiver and we will determine eligibility on a case-by-case basis. We are particularly interested in granting waivers to encourage submissions to the Equitable Development, Resilient Development, and Small-Scale Development sub-categories.

CONTACT US

For additional information, please contact awards@uli.org.

Let us know if have questions or if we can add you to the contact list for the awards!