2026 Design Awards Gala: Lee Bey Hosts, Winners Revealed November 5

The winners of the 2026 ALA Design Awards stay sealed until one night: Thursday, November 5, at Medinah Country Club. The jury has finished its work, the results are locked, and every Presidential, Gold, Silver and Merit Award will be announced from the stage that evening. If you want to know who won, you have to be in the room.

Your emcee: Lee Bey

Lee Bey, architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, emcees this year's Gala. He is also the author and photographer of Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's South Side, a book about buildings and neighborhoods that deserve far more attention than they get. On November 5 he walks the room through this year's winners.

The 2026 jury

Five respected voices from practice, academia and the city's architecture community reviewed every entry:

Juan Gabriel Moreno, President and Founder of JGMA.

Eleanor Esser Gorski, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Chicago Architecture Center.

Charles Smith, FAIA, Principal and Chicago Office Practice Leader at CannonDesign.

Darcy Bonner of Darcy Bonner & Associates.

Michael Glynn, architect and professor at Illinois Institute of Technology.

How the winners were chosen

Entries opened July 1 and closed August 28. Every project was submitted digitally, and every one was judged the same way, on the strength of the project itself. Entries are judged overall, not against the others in their category, so a single-family home and a large institutional building compete on equal footing.

In the first round, each juror scored every entry on their own, from 1 to 10, over the first two weeks of September. On Thursday, September 17, the jury met for a full day of live judging at the Chicago Architecture Center, with some jurors in the room and others joining remotely. Thank you to Eleanor Esser Gorski and the Chicago Architecture Center for hosting. The jury debated the field together and settled the Gold, Silver and Merit Awards.

The Presidential Award is the program's top honor, given to one project chosen from the full field of entries by ALA's President. Like every other result, it stays private until the Gala.

The night

The evening brings together the winning architects, their clients and contractors, the jury and ALA members from across the region. Expect a hosted bar, food stations, plenty of time to talk with the people behind the work, and the awards program itself, with the winning teams called up to receive their awards. ALA will also honor the winners of the 2026 Napkin Sketch Contest.

Seats are $125 for members and non-members alike, and registration closes this Monday, October 26. Come with your firm, bring a client, and see the year's best work honored in person.

Companies can also sponsor the Gala for $750, which includes two seats and your company name on the screen during the program. Sponsors can pay by card on the spot or ask for an invoice.