The American Society of Landscape Architects Northern California Chapter has released the 2025 Professional & Student Design Awards Call for Entries! This annual program honors the best in landscape architecture, recognizing the innovative and impactful work of landscape architects across a wide range of categories.

Submitting your project to the ASLA NCC Awards is a fantastic way to gain recognition while reflecting the chapter’s priorities, including climate action, biodiversity, sustainability, equity, diversity, innovation, and the unique natural and cultural character of our region.

Award Categories

The ASLA-NCC Professional and Student Design Awards features following categories:

  • General Design – Recognizes outstanding, site-specific works of landscape architecture. Entries in this category must be completed and built. For large, incremental projects, at least the first phase must be completed.
  • Residential Design – Recognizes exceptional landscape design for single-family and multi-family residential projects. Entries in this category must be completed and built.
  • Urban Design – Recognize projects that activate and enhance urban environments by addressing social equity, economic viability, infrastructure, environmental stewardship, and placemaking.
  • Analysis and Planning – Recognize recognizes projects stemming from comprehensive analysis or strategic planning that are built or unbuilt.
  • Research and Communication – Recognize projects located outside the United States that contribute to landscape architecture in diverse global contexts.
  • International
  • Small Projects, Big Impact – Recognizes excellence in projects that, despite size or budget constraints, achieve significant impact and effectiveness.
  • Community Impact Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) – Recognize built or unbuilt projects or products that promote social and environmental justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, community-based design, collaborative design, community stewardship, and public engagement—serving communities that often lack access.
  • Student Awards – Recognize outstanding landscape architecture projects by students at the undergraduate or graduate level in any category.

The Awards Jury may select one Award of Excellence and any number of Honor Awards and Merit Awards.

  • Award of Excellence — Given to one truly exceptional project if Jury determines merited
  • Honor Award — Given to any number of superior projects
  • Merit Award — Given to any number of outstanding projects

This year, we are also introducing the Biodiversity and Climate Action Award to honor and recognize projects that demonstrate exceptional innovation and commitment to drawing down carbon emissions, restoring ecosystems and enhancing biodiversity, and reducing reliance on vehicles while ensuring equitable community access to these benefits. All entries are eligible for this award, and entrants do not need to win in another category to be considered. One winner will be selected by the awards jury in collaboration with the ASLA NCC Biodiversity and Climate Action Committee.

Eligibility

  • Professional Awards: Landscape architecture professionals or firms located within the Northern California Chapter area, or projects based within the chapter’s boundaries.
  • Student Awards: ASLA Student, Student Affiliate members or emerging professionals who graduated in 2024 from schools within the Bay Area, using a student project.

Criteria
Primary criteria:

  • Quality of Design and Execution: The project must demonstrate creativity, innovation, and technical excellence, showcasing the landscape architects’ ability to create functional, aesthetically pleasing, and forward-thinking solutions.
  • Relationship to Context: The project should reflect a deep understanding of and integration with its site’s cultural, ecological, and physical context. This includes considering the local community, history, and natural environment.
  • Relevance and Impact: The project must highlight its relevance and impact on the profession, the public, and/or the environment. It should show how it addresses contemporary issues and contributes to the field of landscape architecture.
  • Sustainability: Highlight your project’s exemplary and outstanding approach to sustainability, resilience and conservation. Focus on tangible measures and outcomes that exceed required codes and ordinances and exemplify environmental performance. Please refer to the Statement of Sustainability Metrics on Page 9 for further details.
  • Clear Communication of Intent and Project Outcomes: The project should clearly communicate its concept, process, and outcomes through written and visual media.

Category criteria:

  • General Design – Primary criteria
  • Residential Design Urban Design This category follows the same primary criteria, with particular attention paid to the challenges and opportunities specific to residential spaces. The jury will consider primary criteria; urban design context; contribution of project to a broader urban landscape; and attention to social justice, equity, and inclusion.
  • Analysis and Planning – The jury will consider primary criteria; the quality of the analysis and planning effort; likelihood of successful implementation.
  • Research and Communication – The jury will assess the research based on the clarity and significance of the research question, hypotheses, or objectives, ensuring that it addresses a relevant issue in landscape architecture. They will evaluate the use of historical data, its connection to current knowledge, and whether the research design and methods are rigorous and appropriate, Clear Communication of Intent and Project Outcomes. For communication, the jury will look for the effectiveness of the presentation in conveying key ideas, the innovation in its approach or delivery, the use of new tools or technologies, and how well the message resonates with its intended audience.
  • International – This category evaluates projects based on the primary criteria with a focus on their relevance and impact in an international context, outside of the United States. Small Projects, Big Impact Projects in this category, despite their smaller scale, should demonstrate significant impact in their community or context, showing how even limited interventions can create meaningful change.
  • Community Impact Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) The jury will consider projects that exemplify effective service to underrepresented communities and demonstrate the value of the project to both its community and its environment. Projects in this category should promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion through design by exhibiting innovative community engagement strategies and effective involvement of diverse populations.
  • Student Awards – Student projects must meet the primary criteria; exploration of new methods, tools, or technologies that advance the field of landscape architecture.
  • Biodiversity and Climate Action Award – The jury will consider the primary criteria and alignment with the Climate Action Plan, including:
    • Achieve zero embodied and operational emissions and increase carbon sequestration;
    • Provide significant economic benefits in the form of measurable ecosystem services, health co-benefits, sequestration, and green jobs;
    • Address climate injustices, empower communities, and increase equitable distribution of climate investments;
    • Restore ecosystems and increase and protect biodiversity.

Typical Entries Include: public spaces, streets, transportation corridors and facilities, resorts, institutions; parks and recreational facilities; trails; open space; landscape reclamation; environmental restoration; conservation; landscape art; earth sculpture; single-family residences; multi-unit housing communities; historic preservation and restoration; cultural resource preservation and restoration etc.

The Jury

The prestige of the ASLA-NCC awards program is built on the expertise of our distinguished jurors. The 2025 jury includes:

Submission Guidelines

The chapter will be using Cadmium CD to accept and review award submittals. You will receive an access key when you begin your submission(s). Access keys from previous years or other ASLA accounts will not be accepted.

Payment must be received through the Cadmium CD program to begin the submission process. Submission materials and payment must be received by 11:59pm Thursday, February 28th, 2025.

Entry Fees 
Professional Awards Small Firm (<10 Employees) $150
Professional Awards Large Firm (>10 Employees) $300
Professional Awards: Non-Member $400
Student Awards (entrants must be *ASLA Student or Student Affiliate members or emerging professionals who graduated in 2024 from schools within the Bay Area, using a student project) $30
* ASLA Student Membership is free!

CLICK HERE for the full submission guidelines.

CLICK HERE to begin your submission.

Winners will be announced at the Annual Meeting & Awards Reception. Save the date to join us in celebrating the outstanding achievements and students of landscape architects at Lake Chalet on Thursday, April 24th. Details will be announced soon.