The Calibre Design Awards are open to any firm with an office located in the Southern California Chapter geography with a minimum of one (1) IIDA Associate or IIDA Professional Member. IIDA Memberships must be in good standing and current through the end of 2025. Self-employed design professionals who are IIDA Members are also eligible.
May 22, 2025
2025 Calibre Design Awards
Who Is Eligible
How to Enter
Eligibility Requirements
Projects must be located in Southern California and must have been completed between June 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024. Projects previously submitted are not eligible to be resubmitted again. No changes will be accepted once the project is submitted, including adding or deleting team members. Photography must be included with the submission and cannot be submitted separately or later than the due date.
All projects submitted shall exemplify the following principles in their design: Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Sustainability.
Entry Fees
There is no limit to the number of entries a designer or design firm may submit. Fees must be paid in full at the time of submission for each entry and are non-refundable under any circumstance.
All submissions from December 9th, 2024 to February 7th, 2025:
First Submission Fee: $350
Subsequent submissions Fee: $275/each
Submission Content
The Project Team shall consist of the submitting designer, the client, plus 3-5 additional Team Members who made significant contributions to the project and who are not associated with the submitting design firm.
The following information is required for each Team Member:
Company name, Contact name, Profession/Specialty and Contact email address.
Please be sure to enter the correct spelling and full name of each company. Company names cannot be changed after submitting. Examples of additional Team Members are the general contractor, important subcontractors, furniture manufacturers or dealers, or design consultants.
Submissions will be judged anonymously. Submissions are to include answers to 3 questions. The answers may include the name of the client or project, but must not include the names of the design firm or other team members to maintain anonymity during judging. However, if you are submitting your own firm’s office, you may not include the design firm as the client or a team member in either the narrative or the photos.
Question/Requirement #1
Project Summary Statement (Maximum 50 words)
Please provide a brief project summary to assist our juror’s review of your project. Note, this summary will also be used during the ‘People’s Choice’ award voting. Do not reference your design/architectural firm name in the description.
Question/Requirement #2
Design Challenge (Maximum 250 words)
Please provide a description of the project’s design challenge and the primary design concept implemented.
Please highlight any project concepts that take into consideration innovation, regenerative/sustainable and wellness design, and any social/societal impacts. Do not reference your design/architectural firm name in this description.
Question/Requirement #3
Design Solution (Maximum 500 words)
Please provide a statement of specific solutions to the design challenges, such as: originality, suitability of the design to the project challenges, successful incorporation of highlighted concepts noted in question #1, and how the team collaborated to resolve the challenges. Do not reference your design firm name in this statement.
Images
You may submit up to six hi-res images of the completed project. Renderings are not allowed. The images must be supported by the narrative. One of the images must be a floor plan of the space. Images must be hi-res JPEGs at a minimum size of 8” x 10” at 300dpi. You will be asked to choose the featured image to be used in promotional materials – this image must be in a horizontal aspect. We recommend it be a representative interior shot. Images may contain the name and/or logo of the client.
Date and Time
Location
Project Categories
Work Large: 50,000 + sq. ft.
Work Medium: 20,001 - 49,999 sq. ft.
Work Small: under 20,000 sq. ft.
Public & Community Spaces: Government, institutional, courts, transportation, worship, museum, galleries, public libraries and community centers.
Education: Pre-school, elementary, secondary educational facilities, colleges and universities, long distance learning facilities, trade schools and institutes.
Healthcare: Hospitals, clinics, hospice/palliative care, cancer centers, pediatric care, long term care facilities, medical office buildings, mental health facilities, healing and wellness centers and therapy care.
Hospitality & Retail: Hotels, retail (point of sale, store, boutique, dispensaries), restaurants, country clubs, spas and salons.
Multi-family Housing: Lobbies, communal and amenity spaces (indoor/outdoor).
Un-Built/On the Boards: Un-built projects including projects 'on the boards' including, design, strategy, and research. The project must be currently contracted by a client (no hypothetical projects allowed) and include a minimum of 3 team member firms.
Transformation: The Transformation award is for any project (regardless of type) that has transformed a space from one typology to another, repositioned a space, and/or converted from one use to another use.
People's Choice: People's Choice for any submission entered in the 10 categories. Voting will be online by all current IIDA SoCal members during a designated timeframe. To be considered for People's Choice, the entrant must complete an additional 50 word summary narrative that briefly describes the project challenge and team's solution. Winner will be announced live during the awards program.
Innovation: The Innovation award reflects a design solution that's based on new thinking and problem solving, advances the profession of interior design, and/or advancements in regenerative/sustainable design and wellness; and social/societal impacts in equity, diversity and inclusion. Any submission entered in the 10 categories will be given consideration for this award by our jury panel.
Best of Calibre 2024: Best of Calibre selected by the Jury from the 10 category winners.