The honors program recognizes the best efforts of Virginians who, by profession or avocation, have made creating, preserving, and enhancing Virginia’s communities an important life commitment.
Nominations for 2023 open April 12, 2023
Deadline: June 16, 2023.
Nominations must be submitted electronically. Nominations should be submitted as one PDF document up to 20 pages (not including letters of support) and no larger than 15 MB.
Eligibility criteria and submission requirements vary by award. Click on the awards listed below for additional details and to review past recipients.
Nominations for all AIA Virginia honors may be made by individual members, by chapter honors committees, by AIA Virginia committees, or by the Board of Directors itself. Current AIA Virginia Board members and Honors Committee members are not eligible to receive Honors Awards during their term of service. No member of the Honors Committee may be used as a reference or advisor or be solicited by the candidate or the candidate’s advisor. See the 2023 Honors Committee members.
Award Categories
Professional Awards
The William C. Noland Medal, as the highest award bestowed on a member architect, is intended to honor a distinguished body of accomplishments, sustained over time, that spans a broad spectrum of the profession and that transcends the scope of normal professional activities. Only one medal may be bestowed each year.
The T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Architecture Firm Award, as the highest honor bestowed by AIA Virginia to a Virginia-based architecture firm, recognizes a firm that has consistently demonstrated outstanding and continuous contributions to design, the profession and to the community for at least ten years.
The Virginia Emerging Architect Award recognizes the accomplishments of an emerging leader in Virginia for their contributions to the profession in any of the following: design, research, education, service as a “citizen architect,” service to the profession, service to the community, or initiatives to advance social justice, equity, diversity, or inclusion.
*NEW FOR 2023* The Virginia Associates Award recognizes the accomplishments of individual Associate AIA members for being outstanding leaders and creative thinkers for significant contributions to their communities and the architecture profession.
The Award for Distinguished Achievement recognizes either a singular achievement by an architect or the work of an entire career in any of the following: design, practice, education, service as a “citizen architect,” service to the profession, or initiatives to advance social justice, equity, diversity, or inclusion.
The Test of Time Award recognizes architectural design of enduring significance. The structure should be in Virginia and must be no less than 25 years old. Building use may change over time if the overall design is cherished as a significant contribution to the community and the built environment.
Public Awards
The Architecture Medal for Virginia Service is AIA Virginia’s most prestigious public award, honoring an individual or organization that has made an unusually significant contribution to Virginia’s built environment or to the public’s understanding and awareness of the built environment. Only one medal may be bestowed each year but may be given simultaneously to more than one person.
Honorary Membership is bestowed upon a person of esteemed character who is not eligible for membership in the AIA Virginia but who has rendered distinguished and exemplary service, over a sustained period of time, to architecture and the built environment within the domain of AIA Virginia.
AIA Virginia Honors may be bestowed on non-member individuals or organizations that have inspired, influenced, or complemented the architecture profession in Virginia through practice of an allied profession, research, education, planning, legislation, architectural writing, the arts, or crafts. An individual who has previously been elected an Honorary Member of AIA Virginia is ineligible to receive AIA Virginia Honors.