The 2026 BSLA Design Awards Call for Entries
Above, from “Huckleberry Perch” by Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC. 2025 BSLA Excellence Award in the Residential category.
Boston Society of Landscape Architects seeks to recognize excellence in the diverse practices of landscape architecture.
We are pleased to release the 2026 BSLA Design Awards Program Call for Entries.
Professionals and students are encouraged to submit their best work for review by the 2026 BSLA Awards Program Jury. Projects should demonstrate excellence and reflect the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our cultural and natural environment.
Submitted projects should merit recognition in one or more of the following areas:
Exemplary social, cultural, educational, or environmental significance
Outstanding quality, craftsmanship, creativity, or artistry
Unique and innovative technologies, techniques, or concepts
Advancement of the public’s awareness and understanding of the field of landscape architecture
Awards will be granted for STUDENT work, and in the PROFESSIONAL categories of Residential Design, General Design, Analysis & Planning, Communication, and Research. The Landmark category recognizes a distinguished project completed at least 15 years ago. Student and Professional awards will be recognized at the levels of Excellence and Honor. The jury may also award Special Recognitions. New in 2026: separate Student Awards will be given for undergraduate and graduate work.
WHO CAN SUBMIT?
Professional Awards are open to practitioners within the BSLA chapter area (Massachusetts and Maine), the NH ASLA chapter, and to projects sited within Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, whether or not the practitioner is located in the chapter areas. Individuals, firms, project owners, public agencies, organizations, or other entities may be the formal submitting entity as long as the project’s creative team includes a registered landscape architect, a graduate of an accredited landscape architecture program, or a professional ASLA member (full, associate, or affiliate). New in 2026: This Design Awards program includes Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire.
Student submissions must be work performed while enrolled in a landscape architecture or design program within Massachusetts, Maine, or New Hampshire, or to landscape architecture students studying elsewhere with legal residence in Massachusetts, Maine, or New Hampshire. Recent graduates may student work created while they were a student so long as they’re within two years of graduation.
Submitters are not required to be members of BSLA or any ASLA chapter.
ASLA members do receive a discount on the submission fees.
Note that BSLA (the “Boston” chapter) includes all of Massachusetts & Maine. “Granite State” ASLA includes all of New Hampshire.
See the Call for Entries for complete eligibility information.
IMPORTANT DATES + FEES
NOTE: Rates have not increased this year.
Q&A Session
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at noon. Register for the Zoom call here.
Watch last year’s recording here.
Early Submission. Discounted rates through Friday, March 20
$25 Students
$100 BSLA + NH ASLA Members (this includes all ASLA members in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire)
$175 Members of other ASLA chapters
$275 Non-Members
Standard Submissions. Through Friday, April 3
$35 Students
$150 BSLA + NH ASLA Members (this includes all ASLA members in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire)
$250 Other ASLA Chapter Members
$350 Non-Members
Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis until Friday, April 3, 11:59pm ET.
The final date for all submissions is 11:59pm EST on Friday, April 3, 2026.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The 2026 Info Session will take place on Zoom, Wednesday, March 4 at noon. Register Here.
Watch the 2025 recording here. Generally speaking, is still accurate, too.
Have questions? Email the chapteroffice@bslanow.org. We’ll respond as quickly as possible and will post answers to all questions in an FAQ section here. New questions are at the bottom and are added in the order they’re received.
-
Sure! Here are a few:
The Bay: "One Park for All" in Sarasota | 2023 BSLA Merit Award in the General Design category
Mycofiltration for Stormwater Management | 2023 BSLA Excellence Award in the Research category
Pamet Bend | 2024 BSLA Honor Award in the Residential Design category
The Ramble: A Children's Garden | 2024 BSLA Honor Award in the General Design category
-
Yes! You may submit multiple entries.
-
No!!!! We’ve reverted to our old system, which is LOTS easier. You do not need to create multiple accounts nor use different email addresses. Like the old (pre-2022) days, one person may upload multiple entries.
-
THIS YEAR, in 2023, we’re back to a word limit. The narrative is a 1300 word limit. If you entered last year, this is a change back to using a word limit. If you entered into the National ASLA design awards, this is intentionally more lenient. (We want to make it easy for you to re-use text from other submissions.)
-
Yes. The Research category may include images of text as part of your graphic submission.
For other categories, let common sense rule. If what you’re submitting is, say, a book, or if it needs charts, numbers, infographics, etc. to explain the award-winning story, then by all means — use what makes sense for the project that you’re submitting.
Also: Please keep in mind that there are real humans on the Design Awards jury, with a lot of entries to review — lots and lots of words or numbers on a slide won’t easily be read. Keep it clean, simple, elegant, with the main point easily understood.
-
To the best of our ability, we will provide jury feedback on all submissions.
-
Previously unsuccessful submissions may try as many times as you like, and may shift categories.
If a project has previously WON a BSLA Design Award, it cannot be resubmitted for Design Awards again. (With the exception of Landmark.)
-
BSLA Design Awards are “given” to the project. We are always happy to re-issue an Awards certificate with new firm name. Likewise, additional project partners can be added to certificates.
Email the chapteroffice@bslanow.org for certificate requests from past awards cycles.
-
Yes! It’s great to see people in photos. We ask you to avoid photos with obvious logo clothing that’s connected to the project (or blur out the logo), but people are definitely welcome.
Insider tip: When entries are submitted, our Awards Chairs take a look for anonymity, format issues, etc. If there’s a problem, we’ll reach out directly and ask you to fix it. If you’ve taken the time to submit an entry, we want your entry to be reviewed by the jury!
-
Yes. If the project being submitted is for the Student category, then you may submit using the Student entry fee, even if you have already graduated.
The rule is that you can enter student work under the student rate up to two years after graduation.
-
No. Image labels do not count toward the caption word count.
We’ll also add:
On text on the slides overall, we ask everyone to let common sense prevail, and understand that the jurors are looking at many entries. (What would help you understand this project? What do you have the patience to read?)
DO describe what you want jurors to notice, and DO highlight the aspects that make this award-worthy. DON'T go overboard in text simply because too many words won't be read. Be kind to your readers.
-
No. The intent of having the text in that first slide (or however many slides it takes) is to make it easy for jurors to read the narrative without flipping back and forth between different documents. Text only on those first narrative/statement slides, please.
The statement/summary is new for BSLA; it's something that ASLA uses in the national design awards process. We're hoping that it helps convey that high level story to the jury, while also making it easier for us to share the stories of these projects, and helps us do that more accurately and in your voice.
-
The only difference is the price! By submitting early, you can take advantage of the discount, but there is no other difference in the submission.
