OVERVIEW

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) is a national urban design award that seeks to promote innovative thinking about the built environment and advance conversation about making cities better. The award discovers and celebrates urban places that are distinguished by quality design along with their social and economic contributions to our nation’s cities.

One Gold Medal of $50,000 and four Silver Medals of $10,000 are awarded each biennial. Winners are selected by a committee comprised of six urban experts, including a mayor. Each winner is documented with a detailed case study so that the ideas and lessons learned may be shared with others.

Explore the website to learn more about the award, selection process, past winners, and case studies.

ELIGIBILITY

The project must be a real place, not just a plan or program.

Since site visits are integral to the award process, the project must have been in operation for a sufficient amount of time to demonstrate success.

The project must be located in the contiguous United States. It is not feasible to conduct site visits in Alaska or Hawaii.

There are no distinct categories. Projects may include any type of place that makes a positive contribution to the urban built environment.

Urban environment is broadly defined to include cities, towns, villages, neighborhoods, counties and/or regions.

Previous applicants and Honorable Mention winners may apply up to three times. Previous winners are not eligible.

KEY DATES

The Call for Entries for the 2019 award cycle is CLOSED. Stay tuned for the call for entries for the next award cycle in 2021.

The five 2021 finalists will be notified in February 2021.

Site visits to the finalists will take place February – May 2021.

The 2019 Gold and Silver Medalists will be announced in June 2021.

Presentations of the 2021 Rudy Bruner Award will take place in Fall 2021.

THE APPLICATION

The application is designed to provide the opportunity to tell the story of the project and elicit multiple perspectives. Applicants are encouraged to concentrate their efforts on providing a clear description of the project and thorough answers to questions. Although visual representations of the project – such as drawings, maps, plans and photographs –are important, the selection will be based upon the quality of the project rather than the elaborateness of the presentation. Click here to view and/or download the application. We encourage you to browse the winners to learn more and view completed applications.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Download a copy of the 2019 RBA Application. The application is available as a writable pdf (Adobe Acrobat Version 9 or higher is required).

Read and follow the instructions in the application carefully before proceeding with the submission process.

Complete and save the application as directed prior to submission.

You will be asked to register in order to begin the online submission process. If you encounter difficulties during the submission process, please contact the Submittable online support system for assistance at support@submittable.com or 855-467-8264.

PREPARING YOUR SUBMISSION

In preparation for submission, the application should be saved in the following components. You will be prompted to upload these during the online submission process. Save each file using the specified naming structure, inserting your project’s name in lieu of [Project Name] at the beginning of each file name as indicated. Limit Project Name to 25 characters or less.

FULL APPLICATION: The ENTIRE application EXCEPT for the Award Use form as a single pdf. The application should include the cover page (see details below), visual representations, and supplementary materials (if applicable). Do NOT include the Table of Contents, Selection Committee and Completing the Application instructions (pages 1-7). The Full Application should be saved as a print resolution PDF (300dpi) with a maximum size of 25MB. Save the file as: [Project Name]_FULL

COVER PAGE: An 8.5”x11” cover page with the project name, city and state, applicant name, and image (optional), saved as a pdf. The Cover Page file should have a resolution of 300dpi with a maximum size of 4MB. Save the file as: [Project Name]_COVER

PROJECT OVERVIEW: A separate copy of the Project Data and Project-at-a-Glance forms and a single photograph that best represents the completed project (formatted on a separate 8.5”x11” page), saved as a single, three-page pdf. This will be forwarded to the Selection Committee prior to the first meeting. The Project Overview file should have a resolution of 300dpi with a maximum size of 4MB. Save as: [Project Name]_OVERVIEW

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Upload the photograph included in the Project Overview (above) as a separate JPG file. Include photographer’s in the file name as indicated. The Representative Image should be arranged on an 8.5”x11” page in portrait orientation with a resolution of 300ddpi and maximum file size of 4MB. Save the file as: [Project Name]_IMAGE_[photographer’s full name]

AWARD USE FORM: The Award Use form as a single pdf with a maximum file size of 4MB. Save the file as: [Project Name]_AWARD

If you encounter difficulties during the submission process, please contact the Submittable online support system for assistance at support@submittable.com or 855-467-8264.

For questions regarding the award or selection process please contact us at rba@brunerfoundation.org or 617.492.8404.

NOTICE TO APPLICANTS:

As you prepare your submission, we encourage you to: