watercolor drawing of a red bridge over a blue river

Firth of Forth, Scotland. By Graham Murtha (B.Arch '25), recipient of the 2022 Gindroz Prize for Summer Travel and Study in Europe for the proposal “Studies of stone architecture in Ireland, Scotland and England.”

Carnegie Mellon Architecture offers the following awards, prizes, scholarships and design competitions to students, faculty and alumni of the school.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture offers awards for students in the fall and spring semesters of each academic year. Detailed information about the awards, including examples of work from previous award winners, is available on each award's page linked below.

Student Awards

Fall Awards


Project & Internship Support

  • Burdett Assistantship | B.Arch & M.Arch Student Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024
  • Alwin Cassens, Jr. Memorial Fund in Architecture | Student Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024
  • Measuring & Monitoring Services, Inc. Internship Fund | Undergraduate Student Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024

Research Award

  • Ferguson Jacobs Prize in Architecture | Student Award | Call for Applications Fall 2025

Sustainable Design Award

  • Ralph H. Burt Jr. and Alva L. Hill Scholarship | B.Arch & M.Arch Student Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024

Travel Awards


Spring Awards


Design & Representation Awards

Professional Promise Award

Public Interest Design Awards

Real Estate Award

Sustainability Award

Graduation Award

Commencement Awards

Carnegie Mellon Architecture recognizes the outstanding achievement of graduating students through its annual commencement awards program. The winners are announced during the annual Diploma Ceremony.

  • The Alumni Design Award: This award is granted by the faculty to a graduating student in the Bachelor of Architecture program. The award recognizes exceptional design and representation as demonstrated through studio work within the last two years of the program.
  • The Alpha Rho Chi Medal: This award recognizes graduating architecture students for their leadership and service and what they offer the future of the profession. One graduate from either the Bachelor of Architecture program or the Master of Architecture program is eligible to receive this award each year. 
  • The AIA Medal for Academic Excellence: This is awarded to the top-ranking graduate in each architecture program accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Graduating students in the Bachelor of Architecture program and the Master of Architecture program are eligible for the award.
  • The King Student Medal Program for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Research: This award is given by the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) based upon criteria that acknowledge innovation, integrity and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research.

Faculty Awards

Fall Awards


Research Awards

  • Ferguson Jacobs Prize in Architecture | Faculty Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024
  • Isabel Sophia Liceaga Discretionary Fund | Faculty Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024
  • PJ Dick Innovation Fund: Faculty Grants Program | Faculty Award | Call for Applications Fall 2024

Alumni Award

Travel Award

External Awards & Scholarships

The following awards and scholarships are available from organizations outside the school.

  • AIA Pennsylvania Emerging Professionals ARE Grant: This award is dedicated to the remembrance of Paula Maynes, AIA. Her inspirational legacy of mentorship, service to the profession, stellar work ethic and collaborative nature are the qualities AIA Pennsylvania seeks to develop in ARE Grant recipients. The award provides a grant to students graduating with a degree in architecture to cover the cost of testing for three (3) divisions of the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®). Applications are due in August of each year.
  • John Belle Travel Fellowship: This is a $10,000 annual award by the Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation in honor of John Belle, FAIA, RIBA, Hon. PhD, a founding partner of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners. John devoted his career to the public realm — the planning, design, restoration and adaptive reuse of public buildings and urban centers. The purpose of the Fellowship is to expand students’ understanding of the public realm in existing cities through travel and research and how the knowledge gained might be applied to contemporary urban needs and design challenges. 
    • Applications are due in February of each year.
  • John Stewardson Memorial Fellowship in Architecture: This is an annual competition of the seven accredited architecture programs in Pennsylvania. The fellowship provides a $10,000 traveling award for a young architect to study architecture abroad. Each entrant has ten days to complete a solo design exercise for submission to the jury. Upon completion, the fellowship recipient must give a public formal presentation of their travels. 
    • The competition registration and brief are issued in January of each year.

Archived Awards

The following awards were previously available from Carnegie Mellon Architecture. These awards have now concluded and archived below.

  • Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) Internship: This was a summer job opportunity for Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) students at one of the most noted international architecture practices in the world. The internship provided two (2) paid summer positions in the firm’s New York office for exceptionally talented and dedicated rising fifth-year students in the B.Arch program.
  • Margaret B. Gruger (A’41) Faculty Fund: The fund was established to support the needs of the school and its faculty. To that end, the Head of the School solicited project proposals from the faculty that advanced the mission and reputation of the School. Upon completion of the project, the recipients of funding were required to make a public presentation of their work to the School community.