2026 BE+ GREEN BUILDING SHOWCASE
AWARDS PROGRAM
Every year, Built Environment Plus highlights the successes of the local green building community with our annual Green Building Showcase Awards Program and Celebration. Projects may be submitted for consideration in the GBS Awards Program, and all entries will be displayed in the GBS ’26 Project Gallery on November 4th. Projects may also be submitted as Display-only Submissions for the Project Gallery.
Key Dates
Awards Program launches July 27th (download call for entries)
Award Entries due September 30th (purchase here) (submit here)
Green Building Showcase Celebration November 4th (purchase tickets)
GETTING STARTED
Get started by reviewing our Call for Entries & Award Submissions Guide for key details on the submission process, including submission questions, rules, deadlines, poster requirements, and judging criteria.
GREEN BUILDING SHOWCASE AWARDS PROGRAM
The 2026 Awards Program will crown one Green Building of the Year, one Change Agent of the Year, and one People’s Choice Award, along with 10 Category Leader Awards:
- Building Decarb Upgrades & Interventions
- Carbon and Energy
- Equity and Inclusion
- Health and Wellness
- Site and Landscape
- Student Project of the Year (Free Entry)
- Sustainable Building Operations
- Sustainable Construction Innovation
- Sustainable Interior Fit-out
- Sustainable Whole-Building Renovation
GREEN BUILDING OF THE YEAR AWARD
This award is designed to highlight the most impressive recent green building within our green building community. A panel of industry peers, outside of Massachusetts, will judge the project entries through a holistic sustainability lens to crown this year’s Green Building of the Year.
The winner of this selective competition will be announced during Green Building Showcase and will receive exclusive PR support after the event in the form of a blog and social media post.
Must be a completed building, built within the last 5 years (as of 11/4/26), and designed or built by a Massachusetts company, or be in Massachusetts.
CHANGE AGENT OF THE YEAR AWARD
The Change Agent of the Year Award recognizes someone who has made a significant positive impact on the environment, social equity, and the economy.
- How is this individual’s contributions adding innovation or leadership to the green built environment movement?
- How are they influencing and/or mentoring other individuals?
Person must live or work in Massachusetts, or their impact is in Massachusetts. Nominations of others only. No self nomination allowed.
Nominations are free, and can be submitted here.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
This award is voted on during the Green Building Showcase by all of those in attendance. Each attendee gets two votes to cast with the system designed to allow this community to recognize their favorite peer projects in the showcase. The showboard with the most votes earns the People’s Choice Award.
All entries across all categories, including Display-only Boards, are eligible.
CATEGORY LEADER AWARDS
Can be partially completed or completed buildings, innovative products, designs, plans, master plans, landscapes, infrastructure and programs or other sustainable innovations related to the built environment.
BUILDING DECARB UPGRADES & INTERVENTIONS
Small upgrades, such as duct sealing or replacing end-of-life mechanical systems, can go a long way in improving performance and reducing carbon pollution in existing buildings. These “zero over time” (ZOT) strategies avoid the high capital costs of deep energy retrofits by focusing on the smaller, incremental improvements to reduce emissions over time. This award recognizes targeted, phased interventions rather than whole building major renovations that include deep energy retrofits. It focuses on physical improvements that reduce operational carbon emissions, and could include a ZOT plan. The submitted project should have a product or practice that is high impact, innovative, and replicable.
CARBON AND ENERGY
As we face a global climate emergency, we know that buildings are both a major contributor and thus a major intervention point. In order to meet the Paris targets we must eliminate all GHG Emissions in the built environment by 2040. This award recognizes a new construction or major renovation project that drastically reduces its embodied and operational carbon through innovative solutions with high impact and high replicability, or moves the needle significantly towards net negative carbon emissions.
EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Social equity in the built environment requires careful attention to justice and fairness. People are directly involved or affected by the diversity of the project team, the engagement with the community and users, and in the workforce responsible for the materials and construction of the project itself. This award is to recognize a project that took clear strides to be just and fair in all aspects of its design, construction, and ongoing operation. This project’s process and design results should be innovative, high impact, and replicable.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
There is a duty of care that comes with designing a project, and it is especially important when considering the health and wellness impacts the built environment can have on us. Healthy materials, water quality and access, active design, lighting, biophilia, ventilation, and other design considerations all come together to create the indoor environmental conditions. This award is to recognize a project that made a significant enhancement in its ability to support occupant health. The result should be high impact, and replicable.
SITE AND LANDSCAPE
The site is an integral part of the holistic project, but often the connection between the built architecture and the land itself is often not integrated for true localized ecological cohesion. This award is to recognize a project whose approach to site and landscape design was done with deep consideration of the local ecology, biodiversity, and regional integration, with an outcome that is high impact, innovative, and replicable.
STUDENT PROJECT OF THE YEAR (Free Entry)
The next generations are inheriting the current built environment as well as the challenges we face in its transformation to positively impact the environment, social equity, and the economy. Students K-Graduate are thinking up extraordinary visions and solutions, and with this new award, we look to spotlight and celebrate their contributions to our future. Submissions are free and can be submitted here.
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING OPERATIONS
How we operate and occupy a building over its lifetime can have greater impacts than the building’s initial construction. This award recognizes excellence in how buildings are operated and managed across multiple areas including improvements in health and wellness, air quality, water, waste, and energy efficiency, lighting, safety, thermal comfort, accessibility, transportation, acoustics, maintenance, metering, sensors and controls, and adaptability. The submitted project should have a product or practice that is high impact, innovative, and replicable.
SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION
The construction of the built environment, and its buildings, is often overshadowed by the opening of the finished project and then is lost to time. We know that this phase of the project’s life is monumental, challenging, and of very high impact. This award is to recognize the amazing innovation and leadership bringing sustainability to construction through things like waste management, site remediation, IAQ, ecology preservation, and reducing emissions during construction. The submitted project should have a product or practice that is high impact, innovative, and replicable.
SUSTAINABLE INTERIOR FIT-OUT
The interior of a building often uglies out or times out, in terms of tenant turn-over, before it wears out. This award recognizes exceptional approaches to reducing environmental impact from interior fitouts, while improving human health, that are both innovative and replicable. These may include strategies for adaptability, deconstruction, material reuse and more. The submittal could be a part of a project, a whole project, a product or even an initiative that is high impact, innovative, and replicable.
SUSTAINABLE WHOLE-BUILDING RENOVATION
Renovating existing buildings puts embodied carbon to use and minimizes the significant environmental impact of demolition and building new. However, renovations can be complicated and require creative thinking to meet project needs while prioritizing sustainability goals. This award celebrates innovative and holistic approaches to renovating a building by addressing aspects such as energy, equity, water, materials, resiliency, community, health, and more. The submitted project should deliver impacts and insights that can be replicated.
Award Entries:
Cost: $350 (student entries are free)
Deadline: September 30th, 2026
1) Purchase Award Entries through our Neon storefront (event sponsors will be provided specific instructions)
2) Choose Award Category and Gather Project Info
3) Submit Project Info and Project PDF through Submission Form (use Neon Order #) by 5pm, September 30th. (View guide)
4) Purchase tickets to attend (event sponsors will be provided promo codes)
Display-only Submissions:
Cost: $175
Deadline: October 16th, 2026
1) Purchase Display-only Boards through our Neon storefront (event sponsors will be provided specific instructions)
2) Submit Project PDF through Submission Form (use Neon Order #) by 5pm, October 16th.
3) Purchase tickets to attend (event sponsors will be provided promo codes)
Display-only submissions are eligible for the People’s Choice Award.
Included in the price, BE+ will print and mount all showboards. You save on labor, supplies, and the courier to get your board on site! Event tickets are not included.
PURCHASE AWARD ENTRIES AND DISPLAY-ONLY SUBMISSIONS
Award Entries must be:
- Purchased through Neon by 5:00 PM September 30th, 2026
- Submitted through our Project Submission Form by 5:00 PM September 30th, 2026
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Student Project of the Year entries do not need to be registered through Neon, just submitted directly to the Project Submission Form.
Display-only Submissions must be:
- Purchased through Neon by 5:00 PM October 16th, 2026
-
Submitted through our Project Submission Form by 5:00 PM October 16th, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you be extending the Award Entry deadline?
- No, we do not anticipate extending this deadline.
Why are PDF files for the Award Series required so early?
- Our Judges need time to review all submissions, and we need time to print.
Does my project need LEED, Passive House, etc. in order to be eligible for an award?
- No, projects are not required to have certification in order to be eligible (though certification does look pretty good!)
Does the Award Entry or Display-only Board purchase include admission to GBS on Nov. 4?
- No – you can purchase tickets here.
Does Event Sponsorship include Award Entries or event tickets?
- Yes, every level of Event Sponsorship includes at least 2 event tickets, 1 award entry, and 1 display-only submission.
Can I upgrade a Display-only Submission to an Award Entry?
- Yes, you can purchase Award Upgrades here.
Does a project have to be in Massachusetts to eligible?
- No. Projects can either be in Massachusetts or designed or built by a Massachusetts company.
Does a project have to be completed to eligible?
- For the Green Building of the Year Award, projects must be built and completed within the past 5 years (as of Nov 4, 2026).
For all other awards, partially completed or completed buildings, innovative products, designs, plans, master plans, landscapes, infrastructure and programs or other sustainable innovations related to the built environment are all eligible.