[Skip to Content]

AISC is no longer accepting entries for the 2025 Forge Prize. Stay tuned!


This competition, established by the American Institute of Steel Construction in 2018, recognizes visionary emerging architects, architecture faculty, and graduate students for design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as a primary structural component. 

In short: We’re looking for your version of the future. What will people build with, live in, work in, or play in?

The Forge Prize is a unique opportunity to experiment with a conceptual design without limit to scope or complexity--the sky really is the limit here, and the industry is paying attention.

Three finalists will each win $5,000 and work with a steel fabricator before presenting their ideas to the judges--streamed live on YouTube. The winner will receive the $10,000 grand prize and an invitation to present before an audience of the industry's best minds at Architecture in Steel at the 2025 NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 2 to 4 in Louisville, Ky.!

How it works

The Forge Prize has two stages. Three finalists emerge from the first stage, which is open to designers, teams of designers, or interdisciplinary teams led by an architect based in the U.S.:

  • Emerging practicing architects (those licensed for less than 10 years or on the path to licensure);
  • Tenured or tenure-track architecture educators who have taught for less than 10 years in a university-level architecture program in the U.S.;
  • Adjunct architecture educators who have taught for less than 10 years and have been licensed for less than 10 years or are on the path to licensure;
  • Graduate-level architecture students enrolled in a university-level, U.S.-based architecture program.

These three finalists each win a $5,000 cash prize--and they’ll all get free registration and travel support to attend the 2025 Architecture in Steel conference!

Those finalists will work with a leading steel fabricator to further refine their concepts before the final round, in which they’ll present their designs to a jury of groundbreaking architects and the whole world--live on YouTube on March 22, 2025. 

The winning designers/architects will have a showcase of their design at the conference and take home the $10,000 grand prize!

What you’ll need to enter

We’re going to ask you for a few narrative elements (500 words maximum) so you can walk us through your concept.

Specifically, we’ll want to know:

  • What challenge did you set out to solve, and how does your design do that?
  • Why is steel the right choice for this design?

We’ll also ask you to show off your concept in images and, if you wish, animations. You must upload between five and 10 media elements (jpg, tif, png, or mp4) with credit info.

What you should know about entering

By entering, you’ll agree to a media usage policy (outlined on the file uploads page of the entry form) and commit to attending NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 2 to 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky., if your project is selected as a finalist.

Questions?

Contact us at theforgeprize@aisc.org.

Share