Architecture competitions and awards: the autumn 2026 calendar
Between late August 2026 and spring 2027, some thirty French and international awards open or close their entries. Most of them come down to a ten-page file and a handful of images.
Architecture competitions and awards: the autumn 2026 calendar
September opens the entry season. Between 25 August 2026 and the end of spring 2027, around thirty French and international awards open or close their submissions. Most of them come down to a ten-page file and a handful of images.
And that is exactly where things get stuck. In agencies, the statement of intent gets written in three hours, the plans already exist, but the photographs of the completed building — the ones the rulebook requires at 300 dpi, credited, with a signed release — were never commissioned. The project is superb, the file is weak. Here is the calendar, followed by what the rulebooks actually demand.
Immediate deadlines: September – December 2026
Prix d’Architecture du Projet Citoyen — 25 August 2026
Organised by the Unsfa with the Union sociale pour l’habitat, in two tracks (General and Social Housing). It rewards projects born of consultation between the client, the users and the design team. Traditionally awarded at the Congrès Hlm. This is the closest deadline.
Équerre d’argent and Prix de la Première Œuvre — 7 September 2026, midnight
The French benchmark award. Organised by AMC and Le Moniteur, it covers buildings completed in France between 1 September 2025 and 31 August 2026, across five categories (Housing; Culture, youth and sport; Workplaces; Public and landscaped spaces; Infrastructure and civil engineering). The Prix de la Première Œuvre is open to architects under 35 at the date the building permit was filed.
Entry fee: €142 including tax for the Première Œuvre, €576 including tax for the other categories at this point in the calendar. Ceremony on 23 November 2026. The 2024 and 2025 editions were extended by two to three weeks — no extension has been announced for 2026.
Prix des Femmes Architectes (ARVHA) — mid-September 2026 (to be confirmed)
A fourteenth edition is expected. The 2025 edition ran from 25 April to 15 September, with an award ceremony in December. The 2026 dates have not been published yet: check directly with ARVHA. Categories: Woman Architect, Young Woman Architect (under 40), Original Work, International Prize, Pioneer.
Regional awards — September to December
CAUEs and Maisons de l’architecture open their regional award programmes at the start of the school year. Two representative examples:
- Prix Aperçus Mayenne 2026 (CAUE 53): closes on 18 September 2026, free of charge, for buildings completed between 1 June 2022 and 30 June 2026, at least five photographs required.
- Prix Architecture espaces Bretagne (MAeB): the previous edition opened in September and closed in mid-January. No 2026-2027 call has been published yet.
These regional awards are underrated. Free, less competitive, they generate regional press coverage and local credibility that is directly useful when bidding for public contracts.
German Design Award 2027 — 1 October 2026
The “Excellent Architecture” discipline, open to agencies worldwide. Entry fee €590 excluding tax after 11 September. Watch out for winner’s fees: €3,500 to €4,500 excluding tax if you are awarded. An exemption exists for independents and firms with under €100,000 in turnover, to be requested before 4 September 2026.
Architizer A+Awards, 15th edition — opens 5 October 2026
The most visible international programme. This edition’s fee tiers are not published yet; the previous edition ranged from $275 (early bird, late October) to $425 (extended, late February). Expect an early deadline around late October 2026.
Trophée béton Écoles — 31 October 2026
PFE and Studio categories, reserved for students of the French ENSA schools. Free, with prizes of €2,000 to €5,000.
Wienerberger Brick Award 28 — opens “late 2026”
Free of charge, with a €7,000 grand prize. Open to any building significantly using fired clay brick, with no obligation to use the brand’s own products. The previous edition ran from late November to early March.
MIPIM Awards 2027 — mid-December 2026 (to be confirmed)
€1,120 excluding tax per project, and you must be a company registered for MIPIM. The rights transferred to the organiser run for five years and cover commercial use.
DNA Paris Design Awards 2027 — early bird 18 December 2026
€350 per entry, –20% before 18 December. An unusual technical constraint: images between 1,000 and 2,000 pixels, 4 MB maximum — exactly the opposite of what the Équerre d’argent or the Trophée béton require.
What opens in January–March 2027: prepare now
| Award | Expected window | Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ArchDaily Building of the Year 2027 | Nominations late January 2027 | Free | Eligibility requires the project to be published on ArchDaily before 31 December 2026 |
| National and regional timber construction awards | ~2 January → mid-March 2027 | Free | To be confirmed (2026 benchmark: 2 Jan → 13 March, 4pm) |
| Les Eiffel de l’architecture (ConstruirAcier) | Opens late 2026, closes spring 2027 | Free | To be confirmed |
| Palmarès Architecture Aluminium Technal | ~January → late March 2027 | Free | To be confirmed (biennial, 2025 benchmark) |
| THE PLAN Award 2027 | Opens mid-January 2027 | €199 early bird | To be confirmed |
| Trophées de la Construction (Batiactu/SMABTP) | ~February → April 2027 | Not published | To be confirmed |
| Dezeen Awards 2027 | Opens February, early bird late March 2027 | £105–210 early bird | To be confirmed |
| ICONIC Awards 2027 | Opens February 2027 | €300 excl. tax early bird | To be confirmed. Winner’s fee: €2,450–2,900 excl. tax |
| AJAP 2027 (Ministry of Culture) | ~March → May 2027 | Free | Biennial, under 37, at least one completed project required |
| WAF 2027 | Early bird ~March 2027 | £795 early bird | To be confirmed. Finalists: oral presentation mandatory |
| Prix AMO 2027 | ~April → June 2027 | Published at opening | Entry as an architect / client pair |
| Prix d’a 10+1 (d’architectures magazine) | Closes ~May 2027 | Free | A 10-page PDF, image rights transfer required |
Two major awards work without an entry: the Grand Prix national de l’architecture (consultation closed in July 2026, next opening in 2028) and the EUmies Awards, where works are nominated by experts and by the national Order of Architects. In both cases, you don’t submit a file: you make your work visible beforehand. Which, again, requires publishable images.
The real bottleneck: the photographic file
I re-read the rulebooks. Here is what they actually ask for, in black and white.
| Award | Photos required | Format | Rights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Équerre d’argent | ~10 views, including at least 3 for which you hold the rights | JPEG/TIFF, 300 dpi | Photographer credit mandatory; you guarantee the releases, with no consideration owed to the organiser |
| Trophée béton Pro | 7 photos | 300 dpi, 3 MB max | Transfer signed by both the architect AND the photographer |
| National timber construction award | 6 photos | JPG, 2000 × 2500 | Exploitation licence required from winners, signed by the firm and the photographer; credit ”© photograph [NAME]” mandatory; any cropping subject to their agreement |
| Eiffel de l’architecture | 1 hero shot + 10 max | JPEG | Transfer to ConstruirAcier for the full legal term of protection, with no consideration; you settle the photographer’s fees yourself |
| Architizer A+Awards | 1 to 12 images | JPEG/TIFF/PNG, 30 MB max | Collages and montage boards rejected; worldwide sub-licensable licence |
| Dezeen Awards | Up to 10 images | Square main image, 40 MB max | Renders and CGI forbidden; irrevocable and perpetual licence |
| WAF | 1 hero + 6 views + 3 drawings | JPEG/PNG/PDF | Anonymity mandatory on the A2 boards |
| Prix Versailles | 5 HD photos | .jpg/.png/.bmp | Photo credits embedded in the file name |
| DNA Paris | 1 cover + 10 views | 1,000–2,000 px, 4 MB | Promotional use, copyright retained, credit systematic |
Three lessons follow from this.
”Royalty-free” does not exist, and the rulebooks know it
The Trophée béton Pro requires, at the time of entry, a transfer agreement signed by both the architect and the photographers. Les Eiffel de l’architecture require a photo rights authorisation form and leave you to settle the photographer’s fees yourself if the images are not cleared for use. The national timber construction award asks winners for an exploitation licence co-signed by the firm and the photographer — with a downloadable model contract, and, failing agreement, an obligation to make the building accessible so the organiser can photograph it themselves.
In other words: if your photos were taken three years ago by a contractor whose contact details you no longer have, or by an intern, or by the client, you cannot enter with peace of mind — or you enter while taking on the liability yourself.
The international rulebooks go further: Dezeen and Architizer make you warrant that you hold the rights, and make you bear the indemnity in case of a claim. This is not a formality.
The useful habit: at the moment you commission a shoot, negotiate upfront extended usage rights that include entries to competitions, awards and regional programmes. It costs one line in the quote, and it spares you from having to give up an entry three years later.
The same set of images does not fit everywhere
A square image for Dezeen. 300 dpi for the Équerre. A 2,000-pixel maximum for DNA Paris. No collages for Architizer. No renders, anywhere, once it’s a completed building. Credits embedded in the file name for the Prix Versailles.
A shoot planned with entries in mind produces a high-resolution master set, which is then adapted to each rulebook’s constraints — rather than a series of rough crops made in a hurry the night before the deadline.
The photography gets commissioned at handover, not at entry time
This is the most costly point, and the most common one. The Équerre d’argent 2026 covers buildings completed between September 2025 and August 2026; the national timber construction award looks back three years. In the meantime, the building has lived: furniture moved, signage added, landscaping that has grown in or been trampled, a soiled façade, a neighbouring construction site.
Photographing at handover, in the right season and at the right hour, with the spaces put in order, produces an archive that stays usable for the three to five years the project remains eligible for awards — and afterwards, in your references for public tenders, on your website, in the press and in your publications.
Checklist before you enter
- Check the eligibility window of the award (completion date, not design date).
- Confirm the dates with the organiser: as of 11 August 2026, only a minority of awards have published their 2027 calendar.
- Gather the written releases: photographer, client, and, where relevant, any people visible in the images.
- Prepare a high-resolution master set with its variants per rulebook.
- Check the credits: photographer’s name, firm’s name, location, completion date, client.
- Anticipate hidden fees: several international programmes charge more for winning than for entering.
Preparing an entry for the 2026-2027 season and your completed buildings aren’t documented yet? Now is the time: a shoot carried out in September-October feeds entries from January through June. Let’s talk about your project — and if the question of usage rights for competitions concerns you, it is addressed here.
Dates verified on 11 August 2026. Deadlines marked “to be confirmed” are benchmarks drawn from the previous edition and have not yet been republished by the organisers. Always check the official website before committing.