Design Competition

The design competition is an opportunity for university designers’ work to be reviewed and critiqued by professional practicing interior designers in the field.

Each year the Association of University Interior Designers gathers for conference at a different higher education institution to tour projects, network with other campus designers, and celebrate the projects completed during the last year. The design competition provides the opportunity for members work to be reviewed and critiqued by professional practicing interior designers in the field.

Qualifying projects are submitted by AUID designers and categorized according to the square footage and space type. Design competition guidelines must be strictly followed to be considered eligible for judging. Award winners will be announced during the annual conference at the Awards Banquet.

Past Design competition winners

2025 Design Competition Guidelines & Entry Forms

AUID is not currently accepting submissions for 2025.
Congratulations to all of our Design Competition Winners!
Contact Emily Pittenger, Design Competition Coordinator with any questions.

Click on the category and square footage below in order to download the entry form.

If you would like to review previous years’ submissions, you can view them in the Member Resource Library. (You will need to log into your account to view the resources.)

Qualified projects shall include any university project using either “in-house” design and project coordination or outside architects and designers with university review and project coordination.  Entries shall not have won previous AUID design competition awards. Entries must have been completed within two years of the competition date. 

Entry Format

All entries shall be submitted using the appropriate PowerPoint presentation entry form and sent to the AUID Design Competition email: info@auid.org Send a separate email for each entry. You will receive a confirmation email within three business days of submitting your entry.  

Use the following naming convention of the file:  
“Project Category _Designer Last Name_Project Name”, i.e.  “Medium_Pittenger_AlumniCenter”. 

Categories 

  • Small (Up to 5,000 sqft.) 
  • Medium (5,000 – 15,000 sqft.) 
  • Large (15,000 – 25,000 sqft.)
  • XL (25,000+ sqft.) 
  • Specialty 

“Specialty” entries might include signage, graphics, art installation, custom millwork, furniture design etc. 

**Note- It is up to the committee’s discretion as to which category they deem appropriate per submission.  A minimum of three submissions per category are required for judging, if a category does not receive three submissions, the committee can move it to another category. 

Please follow instructions as noted on the entry form (these are located at the bottom of each slide). All applicable fields on the form shall be completed. If a field is not applicable, please leave this field blank. Be sure to follow the instructions for compressing the pictures in your presentation before you send it. 

Designers may only submit a maximum of FIVE entries total for consideration. Each project can only be entered into one category. To preserve anonymity with the judges, the identity of your name and institution should not be in your project description or in photos (where possible). 

Project Statement

Describe your project to the judges in 400 words or less. This statement should include what the intent of the project was, what portion of the scope you and/or your team contributed to, how you went about meeting the budget in the overall project, and what areas of innovation you contributed to this project? Some examples of what you could include are: 

  • How did you address any ADA upgrades? 
  • How did you incorporate sustainability into the project? 
  • How did you incorporate technology? 
  • How was diversity and inclusion considered? 
  • What influenced your color palette and finishes? 
  • Were there any special features of the project? 
  • Were there any challenges you faced in the project? 
Photos

Each submission is allowed up to eight photos total. The designer can decide how many of those photos are before vs. after, in a way that best showcases your project. 

Floor Plans

Each submission is allowed up to four floor plans total. The designer can decide how many of those floor plans are before vs. after, in a way that best showcases their project. Photos cannot take the place of floor plans. Floor plans required for all entries except specialty.  

Please follow instructions as noted on the entry form (these are located at the bottom of each slide). All applicable fields on the form shall be completed. If a field is not applicable, please leave this field blank. Be sure to follow the instructions for compressing the pictures in your presentation before you send it. 

Designers may only submit a maximum of FIVE entries total for consideration. Each project can only be entered into one category. To preserve anonymity with the judges, the identity of your name and institution should not be in your project description or in photos (where possible). 

Click on the category and square footage below in order to download the entry form.

Entry Form by Square Footage
XL
(25,000+ sqft) Large
(15,000–20,000 sqft) Medium
(5,000 – 15,000 sqft) Small
(Up to 5,000 sqft)
Specialty Projects
Any size project
Additional Information

**Note ‐ It is up to the committee’s discretion as to which category they deem appropriate per submission. A minimum of three submissions per category are required for judging, if a category does not receive three submissions, the committee can move it to another category.

Judges are selected by the conference planning committee. The committee will select 3-5 judges. They shall be professional interior designers, architects, or representatives of the local design community. 

A sample of the Judging Criteria can be seen here.

First, Second and Third place will be awarded in each category. A “Best of Show” will also be awarded. It is up to the discretion of the judges whether all places will be awarded.