Apply for the 2026 program

To submit an application for the 2026 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence, please click here.

ELIGIBILITY

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, South, and Central America).
INELIGIBLE: Any project or program that has previously won the ULI Global, Americas, 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. Projects can also submit if they were developed and completed many years ago; however, we typically receive entries for projects that were completed within the past six months to five years.

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

Submission instructions are available here;
Download the PowerPoint presentation template (last updated September 4, 2025). Download an example of a PowerPoint based on 2025 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence-winning project Crook Horner Lofts;
Each image you upload to the submission form must have a caption and photographer credit. It is strongly recommended that you create a contact sheet as well as include the captions and photographer credits in the submission form. Review the example of a contact sheet from 2025 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence-winning project Crook Horner Lofts; and
Once you have reviewed the sample submission instructions and the specific form for your program/project, then you can start your entry online at uli.org/aae2026. 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.
Please avoid clicking repeatedly on the uli.org/aae2026 link as it will create multiple submissions for you. Instead, you can save your application and return to it at a later time here.
ULI accepts submissions through an online form only which will guide word count. For most fields, word count is set at 250. For fields where you will respond to the criteria, word count is set at 300 words (Excellence in All Areas, Relevance, Innovation, Positive Impact, Stewardship and Model for Others).

REVIEW CRITERIA

achieve market acceptance/financial success;
demonstrate leadership through a high standard of excellence in all areas—architecture, design, planning, construction, amenities, economics, and management, etc.;
demonstrate relevance to the contemporary and future needs of the community in which they are located;
demonstrate innovation, through techniques, processes, or partnerships;
have a positive impact in their communities and/or immediate context, e.g., contributing to advancing equity and inclusion;
exhibit environmental sustainability, stewardship, and resiliency; and
provide models, lessons, strategies, or techniques that other communities can replicate or adapt.

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 2026 or beyond, please email [email protected]. Submission fees for the 2026 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence are:

Early Bird Deadline – Sunday, January 25, 2026, 11:59pm Pacific Time
- Public Sector/Non-Profit $400 ($100 discount)
- Private Sector $700 ($200 discount)
Deadline – Sunday, February 22, 2026, 11:59pm Pacific Time
- Public Sector/Non-Profit $500
- Private Sector $900
Late Deadline – Sunday, March 8, 2026, 11:59pm Pacific Time (this is the last and final deadline to submit)
- Public Sector/Non-Profit $600 ($100 fee)
- Private Sector $1,100 ($200 fee)

NOTES:

The above fees apply to the type of company or organization applying, not to the type of project.
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 [email protected] to request a waiver and we will determine eligibility on a case-by-case basis. We are particularly interested in granting waivers for the Small-Scale Development sub-category.

SAMPLE SUBMISSION FORMS

Review sample submission forms in PDF (last updated September 8, 2025).

Open (all project types) project category sample submission form
Small-Scale development project category sample submission form
Urban open space project category sample submission form
Program category sample submission form