How to Enter and FAQs

Please note that only members are eligible to win an Institute Award for Excellence.

Non-members are still welcome to make a submission, however they must become a member before the submission deadline.

If you are not a member and want information about joining please enquire below.

The Awards are an opportunity to be recognised for excellence within the development industry. If your company has done something unique, pushed the boundaries, or innovated to overcome challenges, you should consider entering. The Awards are very competitive, so becoming a winner or finalist is acknowledgement of outstanding success from your peers.

Your awards submission must be completed through our online platform, Award Force.

All you’ll need to get your submission started in Award Force is to pick your category and enter a name for the submission. That’s it.

You’ll then need to complete payment to continue your submission to the written documentation phase.

Keep an eye out for Early Bird pricing deadlines.

Early Bird submission fee $925

Standard submission fee $1,250

Employer of Choice category fee $500

Young Leaders category fee FREE

Women in Leadership category fee FREE

Payment of the submission fee must be made before you can commence your written submission. Payment for the Early Bird price must be received before the Early Bird deadline for the discount to be applicable. Submission payments can be made by credit card or direct deposit.

• Projects eligible for categories 4 through to 11, and 13 through to 15, as well as 17 and 18 must be submitted by a developer.
• Projects eligible for category 12 may be entered by a developer or an architect. Entrants must also ensure that the developer of the project that is the subject of the submission, is also a member of the Institute.
• Projects eligible for categories 16 and 19 may be entered by government entities (State and Local) or a developer. Entrants must also ensure that the developer of the project that is the subject of the submission, is also a member of the Institute.
• Projects eligible for category 20 must be entered by a licensed builder. Entrants must also ensure that the developer of the project that is the subject of the submission, is also a member of the Institute.
• Projects eligible for category 21 must be entered by a consultant. Entrants must also ensure that the developer of the project that is the subject of the submission, is also a member of the Institute.
• Projects eligible for category 22 may be entered by a developer or a consultant. Entrants must also ensure that the developer of the project that is the subject of the submission, is also a member of the Institute.
• Entries in categories 1-15 are eligible for National Awards.

Every category has unique criteria. Entrants should closely review the criteria to ensure their submission response and site inspections (excluding categories 1-3) address the criteria specifically. Entrants in categories 1 through to 3 are invited to attend an interview instead of a site inspection.

Category criteria can be obtained  on the Award Categories page or via Award Force.

It is highly recommended that you address the criteria related to the Award category you enter. The criteria will be used by the judging panel to assess your written submission.

Each question has a maximum word count of 200 words.

If you are entering on behalf of a developer or entering the Consultants’, Innovation, Design, and/or Construction categories, you must have the written consent of the developer. This written consent must be submitted with the online submission.

Consultants can enter categories 21 and 22.

Projects entered into the Awards must be substantially completed, as outlined in the criteria for each Award category.

Please note that this does not apply to the Young Leaders, Women in Leadership, Employer of Choice, Community Engagement, and Marketing award categories.

Individual projects may be entered in more than one category, where they fit the criteria. A separate submission must be completed for each category.

Entrants are asked to respond to criteria for the specific category for which they are entering, rather than using the same submission text for additional categories. Doing so will give entrants a greater chance of winning.

If you submitted a project in a previous year and did not win you can re-enter the same project multiple times. However, if resubmitting a project that has previously won an Award, you must be able to demonstrate to the judges that significant changes have been made to the project for your submission to be valid.

All submissions must be prepared online via the Award Force platform. Hard copy submissions will not be accepted.

Some entrants copy the criteria into a Word document to work on their responses before submitting. If you do this, be sure to note the word count limits.

You may make changes to your submission up until the submission deadline. After this date submissions will be considered complete. Any items or documents submitted after this time will be accepted or declined at the Institute’s discretion.

The Executive Summary will be used for the purposes of judging. The executive summary, in addition to any detail provided in the full submission, may be published in the Awards issue of our establish magazine if your project is announced as a winner or a finalist. The establish articles will be written at the Institute’s discretion.

You are not required to submit an establish article with your submission. Instead, the Institute will use any detail, wording, statistics, and other information provided in the full submission to write the establish article should your project be a winner or category finalist. The establish articles will be written at the Institute’s discretion.

You are not required to provide a media release with your submission.

You will need to provide a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 high resolution images of your project as part of your submission. Images sent through after the submission due date will be considered at the Institute’s discretion. The number of photos required for entrants in categories 1 through to 3 is different. Refer to the instructions.

Image guidelines: The Institute reserves the right to select submission images at its discretion to be used in the Awards for Excellence AV production and the establish magazine should you be named a finalist and/or winner.

All submission cancellations (withdrawal) must be made in writing to the Institute.

Submission cancellations received prior to 5.00pm 2 May 2025 are entitled to a refund of paid submission fees.

Cancellations or withdrawals made after this time are non-refundable. Please note that associated fees such as administration fees cannot be refunded. Any refunds will be processed approximately one fortnight after the event has concluded.

The finalists and winners will be announced at the Awards Lunch held in Brisbane in November each year.

Tickets are not allocated to entrants. You must purchase your own ticket(s).

No. Changes to the site inspection date and time are not permitted under any circumstances. It is strongly recommended that you block out the judging period in all key company representative’s diaries in advance to ensure the right people (i.e. CEO, Chairman, Development Manager, Project Lead etc) are available.

Yes. Under no circumstances should an entrant be in contact with or approach a member of the judge’s panel outside the hour of their scheduled site inspection. Should the Institute be made aware of such behaviour, your entry will be disqualified immediately.

Most definitely not!