HSS Project of the Year Awards

Best Commercial or Institutional Building

For projects including offices, schools, healthcare facilities, public buildings, mixed-use, hospitality, and residential.

Best Industrial or Infrastructure Project

For projects including data centers, manufacturing facilities, energy infrastructure, transportation, bridges, and utilities.

Best Sustainable HSS Project

For projects demonstrating documented sustainability leadership through embodied carbon performance, material efficiency, sourcing, and HSS-specific sustainability contributions.

Best Special Structure

For projects including stadiums, arenas, performance venues, convention centers, museums, landmark civic structures, monuments, and observation towers.

Best Alabama HSS Project (Judges’ Choice)

Drawn from all Alabama-located entries by the jury. Recognizes a notable HSS project in the host community of the 2026 HSS Summit.

Most Innovative Use of HSS (Judges’ Choice)

Drawn from all entries by the jury. Recognizes first-of-kind applications, novel use of HSS shapes, grades, or connections, boundary-pushing geometry, and projects that advance what’s possible with HSS.

Category rules: A project may be entered in only one type category (1 through 4). The Most Innovative Use of HSS and the Best Alabama HSS Project winners are selected by the jury from the full pool of entries; no separate submission is required.

Best Commercial or Institutional Building

• Architectural and engineering design — design vision and structural approach
• Fabrication and construction quality — execution of the HSS work as shown in photos and described in the narrative
• HSS’s contribution to the project — material selection, role in design intent, and what HSS uniquely enabled
• Resolution of project challenges — challenges specific to the HSS portions of the project (design, fabrication, supply, erection), or broader project challenges overcome through HSS use
• Team collaboration — notable cooperation between project participants (e.g., architect, engineer, fabricator, owner) that shaped project outcomes
• Community impact — how the building serves its users and the surrounding community

Best Industrial or Infrastructure Project

• Architectural and engineering design — design vision and structural approach
• Fabrication and construction quality — execution of the HSS work as shown in photos and described in the narrative
• HSS’s contribution to the project — span, capacity, environment, scale, or schedule advantages HSS provided
• Resolution of project challenges — challenges specific to the HSS portions of the project (design, fabrication, supply, erection), or broader project challenges overcome through HSS use
• Team collaboration — notable cooperation between project participants (e.g., architect, engineer, fabricator, owner) that shaped project outcomes
• Community impact — how the project contributes to local industry, infrastructure capacity, or economic activity

Best Sustainable HSS Project

• Architectural and engineering design — design choices that supported sustainability goals
• Demonstrated embodied carbon impact — measurable improvement achieved through HSS choices, supported by real data
• Material strategy and lifecycle — design optimization, sourcing decisions, recycled content, and lifecycle impact that supported the project’s sustainability
• Sustainability certifications — third-party certifications the project achieved or pursued (LEED, Living Building Challenge, Whole Building LCA, etc.)
• HSS’s contribution to sustainability — how the project leveraged HSS to achieve measurable sustainability outcomes
• Resolution of sustainability challenges — sustainability obstacles overcome through HSS-related design or material decisions
• Team collaboration — notable cooperation between project participants (e.g., architect, engineer, fabricator, owner) that shaped project outcomes
• Community sustainability impact — how the project’s sustainability outcomes extend to or benefit the surrounding community

Best Special Structure

• Architectural and engineering design — design vision and structural approach for a one-of-a-kind structure
• Fabrication and construction quality — execution of the HSS work as shown in photos and described in the narrative
• HSS’s contribution to the project — exposed structure, sculptural expression, long spans, complex geometry, or unusual loading enabled by HSS
• Cultural, civic, or community significance
• Team collaboration — notable cooperation between project participants (e.g., architect, engineer, fabricator, owner) that shaped project outcomes
• Resolution of project challenges — challenges specific to the HSS portions of the project (design, fabrication, supply, erection), or broader project challenges overcome through HSS use

Best Alabama HSS Project (Judges’ Choice)

• Architectural and engineering design — design vision and structural approach
• Fabrication and construction quality — execution of the HSS work as shown in photos and described in the narrative
• HSS’s contribution to the project — material selection and what HSS uniquely enabled
• Significance to the host community — civic, economic, cultural, or industry contribution
• Team collaboration — notable cooperation between project participants (e.g., architect, engineer, fabricator, owner) that shaped project outcomes
• Resolution of project challenges — challenges specific to the HSS portions of the project (design, fabrication, supply, erection), or broader project challenges overcome through HSS use

Most Innovative Use of HSS (Judges’ Choice)

• First-of-kind application or unusual approach
• Novel use of HSS shapes, grades, connections, or processing
• Boundary-pushing architectural expression, geometry, span, load case, or connection design
• Significance to HSS practice — how the project demonstrates new possibilities for HSS use that other projects can build on
• Cross-disciplinary collaboration that enabled innovation and project success
• Resolution of unprecedented challenges — challenges in pushing HSS practice into new territory and how they were navigated to deliver the project
• Community impact — how the project benefits or serves the community where it’s located

Jury

Entries are judged by a four-member jury representing perspectives of the HSS industry from any of the following entities:

• Structural engineer
• Architect
• Fabricator or erector
• HSS producer
• Service center
• Steel Tube Institute representative

The jury reviews all entries, scores them against category-specific criteria, and selects winners through deliberation. Jurors with a conflict of interest on a specific entry recuse from scoring that entry. The jury reserves the right to withhold an award in any category if no entry meets the standard.