AIA Oregon Professional Achievement Awards

Introduced in 2018 to replace the singular Emerging Professional of the Year Award, these awards celebrate and recognize achievement at all levels of the profession within our community. The objective is to promote engagement within the chapter and recognize valuable contributions of members who are serving the community and proactively improving the architecture profession.

Awards (See descriptions of each award below)

  • AIA Oregon President’s Award

  • AIA Oregon Young Architect Award

  • AIA Oregon Emerging Professional Award

Nominations

Candidates for individual recognition awards are nominated with support from AIA Oregon Member Firms. Individuals within member firms can nominate peers, with firm leadership support, to encourage all firm employees to honor the work of their colleagues. All nominees’ letters must contain a signature from firm leadership to be considered. Nominees shall not be serving on the Board of Directors at the time of nomination.

Application Criteria & Awards Description

Each award is based on AIA National’s four (4) content categories that that exhibit exemplary contribution to the profession and community:

  • Design Excellence: through the aesthetic or scientific application for the built environment

  • Practice: through leadership, management and/or specialized technical expertise

  • Education: through teaching, publications and/or research

  • Service: through exemplary service and contributions to the profession and/or society

Jury

The jury includes 3-5 members as nominated by the AIA Oregon President. The Jury reserves the right to not award an achievement award for a specific year.

AIA Oregon Professional Achievement Awards

President’s Award

The AIA Oregon President’s Award is given to an individual AIA member for significant contribution to the architecture profession through distinguished leadership and service over an extended period of time. These services, exceeding those expected in any official capacity, and by leadership, has advanced the cause of the profession and provided an inspiration to his/her fellow practitioners.

Eligibility: Current and previous AIA Oregon members that have been licensed to practice architecture for more than 20 years by the submission deadline are eligible.

2023 PRESIDENT'S AWARD WINNER

Jay Raskin, FAIA
Jay Raskin Architect

Our 2023 President’s Award winner is a citizen architect, who has woven the threads of disaster response and architectural practice, planning for disaster recovery, historic preservation, and sustainability with a vision for community resilience. He has expanded his understanding and influence in resiliency planning as an elected official in Cannon Beach and further impacted Oregon through his involvement in the development of the Oregon Resiliency Plan. He can be relied on as an advocate for the profession and participates with the AIAO legislative committee. He helped to establish national standards as the chair of the National Institute of Standards & Technology’s (NIST) Community Resilience Panel which was tasked with the mission to reduce barriers to achieving community resilience.

Through his leadership and tireless efforts, AIA Oregon led the effort to create the position of State Resilience Officer for Oregon. In this process he has been the face of our profession to the legislature and state agencies, prodding and educating them into awareness, writing the planning documents, and enabling legislation that has created action and results – while also enhancing the public perception of architects.

Congratulations to JAY RASKIN, recipient of the 2023 AIA Oregon President’s Award!

Young Architect Award

The Young Architect Award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers. AIA Oregon sees this award as a stepping-stone to the National Young Architect Award application and aims to support Young Architects in their career pursuits through this recognition.

Eligibility: AIA members who are in good standing and have been licensed to practice architecture fewer than ten years by the submission deadline are eligible. The term ‘young architect’ has no reference to the age of the nominee.

2023 YOUNG ARCHITECT AWARD WINNER

Nicole Becker, AIA
Associate and Project Architect, ZGF

Our 2023 Young Architect Honoree is an Associate and Project Architect at ZGF Architects in Portland, OR. The dichotomy between the natural and built environments has always inspired her to seek out challenges in both arenas as she strives to make a more holistic impact on people and planet. In just six years in the profession, she has served in numerous capacities for the AIA, NAAB, and NCARB; including currently as Oregon’s State Representative to the Young Architects Forum. In 2022, she was named an Associate at ZGF after just a year with the firm. She is equally passionate about advocating for the next generation of designers as she is about mentoring the next generation of mountaineers. Outside of architecture, she is an avid dog lover and accomplished mountaineer who volunteers her time rescuing senior dogs and training, educating, and leading alpinists with a focus on gender equality in the mountains.

Congratulations to NICOLE BECKER, 2023 AIA Oregon Young Architect Award Winner

Emerging Professional Award

The AIA Oregon Emerging Professional Award is given to individual Associate AIA members to recognize outstanding leaders and creative thinkers for significant contributions to their communities and the architecture profession. This candidate should exemplify excellence and service in one or all of the content categories described in the entry requirements.

Eligibility: Current AIA Oregon Associate members or recent graduates (within 18 months) of an accredited architecture degree program are eligible.

There were no nominations for the Emerging Professionals Award this year.