ASLA Student Awards: A Comprehensive Guide to Criteria and Submission

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Student Awards recognize exceptional work by landscape architecture students. These awards celebrate innovative design, planning, and research across a diverse range of categories. The awards program aims to elevate the profession and honor the hard work that contributes to creating exceptional landscape architectural works. The winning projects will be showcased at a special awards event in the Fall of 2025, with posters of the winning entries displayed during the event. This guide provides a detailed overview of the criteria, submission requirements, and categories for the ASLA Student Awards.

Eligibility and General Requirements

The Student Awards Program is open to all students currently enrolled or recent graduates (within one year) of a landscape architectural curriculum in Pennsylvania or Delaware. The submitted work must be associated with the student’s academic pursuits. Students must also be Student Members of ASLA with the exception of the Student Collaboration Category. Awards will be given for excellence in the execution of an academic study of landscape architecture. Honor and Merit Awards may be given in each category.

To be eligible, undergraduate students may only submit projects completed during or after the student’s second design year. Graduate students may submit at any point in their enrollment. Students who graduated in 2024 are allowed to submit in the 2025 student awards. Undergraduate and graduate student entries will be judged separately, with each entrant needing to indicate their status on the online entry form. Entrants who have graduated will select their status based on when the project was completed. For example, senior capstone projects will be considered “undergraduate.” An entrant must provide proof of registration as a student during the 2024-2025 academic year or, if not a current student, proof of enrollment in the 2022-2023 academic year.

Student entries may be individual or team efforts. Teams will indicate “graduate” or “undergraduate” on the entry form based on the majority of team members. If there is an even number of graduate and undergraduate students, the team should choose “undergraduate.” If a team member is not in the landscape architecture program, this should be noted in the entry form.

Submission Guidelines

Failure to submit any required portion of the application will disqualify the entry. All text provided in the application must be in English, with careful attention to spelling and formatting. Entrants are responsible for clearing photographs with photographers for publication and reproduction by ASLA. Photographs must also be client-approved prior to submission. ASLA reserves the right to edit any and all submission text for clarity and concision.

A submission must have a short, specific presentation title (containing no abbreviations) that indicates the nature of the presentation. Each entry requires a Project Statement describing the project and why it’s award-worthy. This statement may be used in promotional materials if the project is selected for an award.

Project Presentation and Images

A maximum of 16 images may be submitted with each entry, with no less than 5 images uploaded. Images must include at least (1) site plan, except for the Communications and Research categories. Entrants will be prompted to enter an image title and caption for each uploaded image, with a maximum character count of 150 characters, including spaces.

The project imagery should be exported and compiled into one compiled PDF. Each image requires the addition of a description. Collaged images may be submitted and count as 1 image in the submission if they are essential to capture detail / design elements of the project. The necessity for submitting collaged images remains up to Jury discretion in the review process.

Design Essay

A brief one-page essay in English (300 words maximum, pdf format) is required, describing the most important concepts of the project. The narrative should relate back to the chosen project category and the category’s requirements.

Presentation Format

A compilation of images of the design (such as sections, plans, and perspectives) should be submitted as one document in pdf format, with a maximum of eight pages. The pdf must be 11x17. In addition to the pdf, three high-resolution images (300 dpi or greater) must be submitted for use in the Awards Book and Awards Ceremony Presentation. Simplicity and minimal wording are preferred for these images.

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Award Categories and Specific Criteria

There are several categories under which an entry may be submitted. Students may submit multiple projects; however, a student cannot submit the same project to multiple categories. Awards entries are not required to be built.

1. General Design

This category recognizes site-specific works of landscape architecture. The Project Narrative should address the project location, scope and size, site and context investigation, design program, design intent, materials and installation methods, environmental impact and concerns, collaboration with the client and other designers, and other significant issues.

2. Residential Design

This category recognizes site-specific works of landscape architecture for residential use. The Project Narrative should address the project location, scope and size, site and context investigation, design program, design intent, materials and installation methods, environmental impact and concerns, collaboration with the client and other designers, and other significant issues.

3. Urban Design

This category recognizes projects that activate networks of spaces that mediate between social equity, economic viability, infrastructure, environmental stewardship, and beautiful place-making in the public and private realm. The Project Narrative should address the project location, scope and size, site and context investigation, design program, social equity, economic viability, place-making, environmental stewardship, design intent, environmental impact and concerns, and collaboration with the client and other designers.

4. Analysis and Planning

This category recognizes the wide variety of professional activities that lead to, guide, and evaluate landscape architecture design. Typical entries represent excellence in general development, regional transportation, recreation facilities, park master plans, and town planning. The Project Narrative should describe the project’s goals and objectives, what kinds of environmental and social data were collected and analyzed, methods of analysis, how options were considered, how interested parties were involved in the project, how design was used in the process, how the project was or would be implemented, and how the project is or will be administered and/or monitored, and other significant issues.

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5. Communications

This category recognizes various forms of media and communication related to landscape architecture. Typical entries include print media, film, video, audio, CD, or DVD formats; online communications; interpretive design; and exhibition design. The Project Narrative should describe the intended purpose, audience, message(s), impact and effectiveness, distribution method (commercial bookstores, Internet, etc.), circulation/distribution (number), and other issues as appropriate. A site plan is excluded from the image requirements for this category.

6. Research

This category recognizes outstanding research contributions to the field of landscape architecture. The Project Narrative (Project Abstract) should describe the problem researched, relationships investigated, method of inquiry used, results of research (which may refer to statistical or other analysis that can be included under “Images”), conclusions concerning the significance of the results, comparisons with past research, applicability to landscape architecture practice, the need for new or further research, and other significant issues. A site plan is excluded from the image requirements for this category.

7. Community Service

This category recognizes pro bono community service demonstrating sound principles and values of Landscape Architecture. These may be submitted as by an individual or a group representing either an individual or group contribution. Community Service submittals should represent pro bono community service demonstrating sound principles and values of Landscape Architecture. The Project Narrative should describe the project’s goals and objectives, what kinds of environmental and social data were collected and analyzed, methods of analysis, how options were considered, how interested parties were involved in the project, how design was used in the process, how the project was or would be implemented, and how project is or will be administered and/or monitored, and other significant issues.

8. Student Collaboration

This category recognizes collaborative work by landscape architecture students with students from allied or complementary disciplines, including those in other design fields, business, and the natural and social sciences. Projects submitted in this category must be team projects, and each team must include at least one landscape architecture student and one non-landscape architecture student. Materials in the submission must not reveal the names of the entrant and landscape architects, firms, other designers, students, schools, or photographer.

The Project Narrative should describe the criteria for the subcategory most closely fitting the entry using the General Design, Residential Design, Analysis and Planning, Urban Design, Research, Communications, and Community Service guidelines. (You will select Student Collaboration as your primary category, and note the second category using its criteria and narrative requirements.) The narrative should also provide a team description-without identifying the team members by name, identify each team member by field of study, level of education program (undergraduate or graduate), and what responsibilities they had for the project. It should describe the project and the collaboration among team members, paying particular attention to describing the role of the landscape architecture student(s), how landscape architecture contributed to the success of the project, what the landscape architecture student(s) learned from the other field(s) of study, and vice versa.

Additional Considerations

VA ASLA Professional Awards Program: Entries are limited to persons practicing landscape architecture in Virginia or who are submitting a landscape architecture project located in Virginia. All program categories are open to those currently enrolled, as well as recent (2024) graduates of a landscape architecture degree program in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Green Ribbon Award: VA ASLA is introducing the Green Ribbon Award in the 2025 award cycle to honor landscape architecture projects that prioritize sustainability, carbon reduction, and community engagement.
Jury Process: The jury is composed of landscape architecture practitioners representing a range of practice types. The jury process is blind, and no jury member is given the names of the people or firms involved in nominated projects. The decisions of the jury are final and solely based on the submission.
Poster Submission: All nominees agree to submit a .pdf file for a 24"x36" exhibition poster representing their project as described in their nomination if they are selected to receive an award.

Examples of Innovative Student Projects

Several recent student projects exemplify the innovative and impactful work being done in landscape architecture:

Urban Soil Literacy: A project promoting soil literacy through an urban soil survey and experimental gardens in Toronto’s Lower Don Valley Sub-watershed.
Flood Mitigation in Phnom Penh: A design addressing ecological degradation and flooding risks in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Tompun Lake using ArcGIS analysis and spatial planning.
Restoring Goby Migration in Hawaii: A project integrating nature and urban systems by reconstructing Hawaii’s traditional Ahupua'a system to restore goby migration routes.
Stabilizing Thawing Ground in Utqiaġvik, AK: A project mapping, managing, and designing with snow and meltwater to preserve urban Arctic landscapes.
Age-Inclusive Community Design: An innovative effort to develop a toolkit for age-inclusive community design using GIS data and iCAT-park.
Stewards of Pyrran: A cooperative board game reimagining fire as an essential force in California’s fire-adapted landscapes.
Re-wetting Großbeeren: A project reimagining a former sewage field outside Berlin as a human-induced peatland for carbon sequestration and biodiversity restoration.
Therapeutic Garden Design: A garden designed to provide appropriate stimulation, participation, community building, and reconnection to nature for residents of skilled nursing facilities.

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