Minister's Award for Urban Design terms and conditions

Awards and Judging Criteria

The Minister’s Awards for Urban design includes 3 categories, recognising excellence in the fields of urban design, integrated transport and housing innovation.

Minister’s Award for Urban Design

The Minister’s Award for Urban Design recognises contemporary Queensland urban design projects of the highest quality, encouraging cities, towns and communities across Queensland to strive for best practice in all projects.

Submissions into this Category will be considered against good urban design principles as outlined in QDesign (PDF, 9MB), namely:

1. Be climate responsive.
2. Inspired by local character, form and culture.
3. Work with and enhance natural systems, landscape character and biodiversity.
4. Create well defined, legible and connected streets and spaces.
5. Create great places for people to live.
6. Deliver diverse development forms and density.
7. Embed opportunities for adaptation and change.
8. Lead by example.
9. Engage effectively.

Malcolm Middleton Award for Housing Innovation

The Malcolm Middleton Award for Housing innovation was established in 2022 to recognise contemporary housing solutions that address Queensland’s growing population and housing challenges. The Awards, named after the previous Queensland Government Architect, Malcolm Middleton OAM, celebrates innovative projects that exemplify excellence in creating liveable, sustainable and inclusive living environments for all Queenslanders.

Submissions into this category should represent new housing solutions that meet contemporary community, urban and environmental challenges, demonstrating excellence against one or multiple good urban design principles as outlined in QDesign (PDF, 9MB).

Movement and Place Award

The Movement and Place Award was established in 2022 to celebrate projects that successfully integrate transport and movement outcomes in conjunction with the delivery of a high-quality place to maximum social and economic benefits for communities across Queensland.

Submission will be considered against objectives and outcomes as established by the Department of Transport and Main Road’s Movement and Place Policy, including the delivery of;

1. Vibrant and successful places.
2. Happy and healthy people.
3. Natural, sustainable, and resilient communities.
4. Connected, accessible and convenient ‘Movement’ for people and goods.

Entry

Entry is open to any urban design professional who either:

• entered the 2024 Australian Urban Design Awards for projects located in Queensland

or

• is a recipient of a State Award in Queensland from the Planning Institute of Australia, Australian Institute of Architects or the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

Projects identified through Queensland industry-based awards programs or as identified by the Office of the Queensland Government Architect (OQGA) may also be considered for entry on a case-by-case basis.

No site visits are planned as part of the judging process.

Applicants will be judged on their entry submission for an eligible project by a jury chaired by the Queensland Government Architect.

Entry fee

There is no fee.

Jury

Juries are chaired by Leah Lang, the Queensland Government Architect, and include experienced representatives from the private sector, local and state governments.

Ministers Award for Urban Design jury includes:

• Christina Cho—Director, Cox Architecture.
• Matthew Leman—Local Government Association of Queensland.
• Peter Richards—Principal Architecture and Urban Design, Archipelago and QUD&PP Representative.
• Chris Brown—Cross River Rail Precincts Director, Queensland Investment Corporation.
• Leah Lang—Queensland Government Architect.

Malcolm Middleton Award for Housing Innovation jury includes:

• Malcolm Middleton—Former Queensland Government Architect.
• Christina Cho—Director, Cox Architecture.
• Leah Lang—Queensland Government Architect.

Movement and Place jury includes:

• Dr Deborah Hume—Deputy Director-General Translink.
• Martin Reason—Chief Planner and General Manager City Planning and Design, Brisbane City Council.
• Leah Lang—Queensland Government Architect.

Announcement

The award(s) will be announced by the Minister for Housing and Public Works, the Honourable Sam O’Connor, at an event on Tuesday, 15 July 2025. The event, organised by the Office of the Queensland Government Architect (OQGA), brings together leading architects, landscape architects and planners from across Queensland, promoting the built environment's pivotal role in the culture, sustainability and economy of the region.

Publicity and copyright

By entering, the applicant declares they are authorised to submit their entry submission for the eligible project and have obtained appropriate releases and authorities in writing from the eligible project clients, collaborating organisations, copyright holders for entry submission materials, licensees, photographers and, where applicable, the principal/director of the applicant’s employer, including for any resultant publicity.

The OQGA does not make any claims on copyright or intellectual property of the designs entered other than the rights outlined in the following paragraph. By entering, the applicant agrees to absolve the OQGA from any liability relating to confidentiality or intellectual property issues that may be raised by any party.

The OQGA reserves the right to exhibit or publish any or all the entries. By entering the awards, the applicant gives permission to the OQGA to publish, exhibit and promote the content of the entry submission, including by supporters of the awards, where their use of submission content is specifically related to their promotion of their involvement in the awards. Specific information about eligible project budgets is not released for publication.

In all promotion, the OQGA will endeavour to promote the name of the firm/s that have authored the eligible project, and where the OQGA is made aware of their names, to the extent that the OQGA can exert editorial control, and where space permits, other contributors, such as photographers, will be acknowledged.

All applicants must be prepared to submit further material for exhibition and publication if required, such as additional photography, drawings and other information. The applicant acknowledges that the OQGA has the right to reproduce materials in whole or part without payment of release or licensing fees to the holder of publication rights or copyright.

General conditions

An entry shall be excluded from consideration of an award if it does not fulfil these entry conditions.

Entries received in previous years will not be eligible for future awards.

The OQGA is committed to providing a quality awards program to the design industry and makes every attempt to ensure accuracy, currency and reliability of the information included in this document and elsewhere.

However, changes in content and process may become necessary at the absolute discretion of the OQGA. The OQGA accepts no liability for any use of the said content or reliance placed upon it.

Privacy, disclosure and consent to use personal information

By entering the awards, the applicant acknowledges and agrees that their personal information is being collected by the OQGA for the purposes of judging, conducting, and administering the awards.

If an applicant wins an award, the applicant consents to the OQGA disclosing their personal information in promotional material, including photographs taken at the awards event on the department’s website and social media, relating to the awards.

The collection, use and disclosure of personal information will be handled in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009.