The 2024 VA ASLA Professional and Student Awards drew strong submissions from across the state. All submissions were reviewed by each juror prior to a meeting of the jury members. The professional jury consisted of practitioners from a variety of practices across the Eastern United States. The student jury consisted of faculty from five different landscape architecture programs offering undergraduate and/or graduate degrees. The juries held intense discussions and deliberation before selecting the final award recipients. Each category was limited to one possible Honor Award (20% of the submissions in each category), and the possibility of one exceptional project in each category could be elevated to a Presidential Award for Excellence. The number of merit awards and commendations were at the discretion of the jury. The following comments relate the over-all comments of the juries.

Keep it simple and follow the directions for submissions.

The awards package consists of one pdf within the page limits for the jurors to review. Organize the pages carefully. The jurors will review these on their computers. Review each page for legibility and how each contributes to a strong and complete project presentation.

The strongest way to draw the jury's attention is through the short descriptive narrative combined with high-quality photos and/or graphics related to the description. Keep the focus on communicating the project's value and relationship to the category. Captions on images should direct jurors to the project’s qualities. The awards submissions are a bit like a three-minute elevator interview. You’ve limited time and space to make your point and demonstrate your project’s value. The projects are presented anonymously, and likely the jurors have neither seen nor heard of each project before.

Focus on the narrative description: it should tell a compelling story.

Provide the information requested in a direct, simple style. Highlight what makes the project unique, its environmental components, its long-term value, its excellence. Back up and explain how the project exemplifies excellence, do not leave it to the jury to hunt for relevance and impact. Tell them clearly. Use your 400 words well. The Analysis and Planning category poses some difficulty, in that each submission must synthesize multiple page documents into clear, concise and compelling nomination packages. Providing an executive summary of major points and process can be extremely helpful to a jury.

It is up to the submitter to make a clear case for how a project meets the selection criteria in the selected category.

Use the images and page captions, as well as clear descriptive narratives to demonstrate how a project is “distinctive”, “unique”, “functional”, “innovative”, etc.  Do not expect the jurors to hunt for these. They will evaluate what you actually submit, rather than interpret the submissions.

Remember — images and photography are key.

The best narrative can't make up for poor photography and so-so or illegible graphics. For design competitions, hire a professional photographer to shoot your project. Review the photos and other graphic images and compile to support your narrative. Include legends or keys as needed. Do they tell the story? Are they clear? Do the images demonstrate the points raised in the narrative? Use your page and image captions to bring relevance to the final pages. Clear descriptive labels are essential.

Organize.

Don't wait too long to begin preparations of your awards submission. It takes time to reorganize a set of images and text to demonstrate the excellence of a project. Most entry requirements for awards programs are consistent from year to year, and changes in procedure are minimal. The VA ASLA tries to use the same or similar requirements as the ASLA. Gather materials early and allow plenty of time for review. Two-person proof the narrative and captions for misspellings and typos. Pay head to page limits. Neatness counts; as does coordination between the text and images. Prove your point by editing for content and organizing to demonstrate the completeness of a project with emphasis on what makes the project exemplary and unique.

Let the plantings mature.

Where site plantings are a key design component of a project, wait for the plantings to mature before photographing it for your portfolio or for awards submissions. Some firms wait up to three years before photographing projects.

Consider submitting projects in less-popular categories.

Most competitions have several categories for submission. The general design and planning and analysis categories are the most competitive, with twice as many submissions as any other. Consider all the work your firm has done for the past several years. There may be projects to submit in alternative categories, or the work can be ‘framed’ to address a less obvious category.

Resubmit projects you believe in.

If your submission isn't successful one year, don't give up—resubmit it the following year. Juries change each year, and what appeals to a jury one year may completely differ the next. Keep a copy of your submission so that you don't have to re-create work you have already produced. And it provides a good start for a fresh critique.