2026 Green home + design awards

We encourage builders, designers, architects, landscape artists, homeowners and any creatives with projects that fall into the categories listed above to apply.

New this year, students may apply in the Emerging designer category with residential design projects that advance sustainability, resilience, occupant health, and high-performance building principles.

• NEW BUILD - single family or multi-unit homes (up to 4 units).

• ADDITION, REMODEL, OR ADAPTIVE REUSE

• DIY or NONPROFESSIONAL DESIGN/BUILD - projects designed by homeowners and nonprofessional designers. May have consulting from professional after design created for structural drawings. Homeowner must have acted as the general contractor or completed some of the construction work for the project.

• ADUs or SMALL PROJECT - up to 1,000sf.

• MATERIALS or METHODS INNOVATION - projects that have utilized innovative building materials or methods.

• SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE - landscaping projects that restore habitat biodiversity, prioritize native plants, and implement sustainable practices to improve soil health and reduce chemical fertilizer use.

• EMERGING DESIGNER (Student) - recognizing innovative student residential design projects that advance sustainability, resilience, occupant health, and high-performance building principles. Projects may be conceptual, academic, thesis, studio, or competition work and do not need to be constructed.

Note: to qualify, project should be located in New England, with the Architect and General Contractor headquartered in Maine. The project must be residential and may be single family or multi-family (up to 4 units).

To apply, please submit the following items using our online form (link below) – Important note: we encourage you to draft your application in a Word document before using the online form, as it will not save your work until you click “submit.”

A single project may be submitted in no more than 2 categories. There is no limit to the number of projects you may enter.
STUDENTS: Please note there is a separate application for your category.

• Project description (300 words or less) – please provide a brief overview describing important elements of your project, including any design challenges/solutions and efforts to minimize operational energy needs, reduce embodied carbon, emphasize occupant and environmental health, and prioritize sustainability. Do not include the name of your company, designer, builder or architect in the description.

• Project images – Each entry must include at least one and no more than 10 high-resolution photos to represent the project. Images can include photos, drawings, or site plans. Each image should be at least 300 dpi in JPG, PNG, TIFF, EPS, or PSD file formats and no more than 30MB file size. Photos must include the project title and photographer name in the file name. Please submit using the online form.

  We strongly encourage applicants to use professional photography, if possible. All photographs submitted must be available to be published free of charge in Green & Healthy Maine HOMES magazine, and related media including but not limited to greenmainehomes.com, promotional emails about the awards, and on Green & Healthy Maine social media channels. It is the applicant’s responsibility to clear the terms of this usage with the photographer. Note: A photographer’s license will be required of award winners as a prerequisite of the project’s printing in the magazine.

• Application Fee – use the online form to submit payment. Applications are $135 for the first project and $85 for any additional applications. Projects in the DIY or nonprofessional design/build are $75. Note: there is no charge to submit in the Emerging Designer (student) category.

Click here to fill out the online application form.

Click here to fill out the online application form for Emerging designers (students).

All entries must be submitted by August 14, 2026, 11:59PM.

Applications will be rated and winners selected by an independent panel of jurors whose primary location of work is outside of Maine. Jurors have been selected in recognition of excellence in the green building field and for their contributions to the industry. Green & Healthy Maine staff will not contribute to the award decisions and will honor the choices of the jury. Jurors will have option to recognize additional categories not mentioned above should outstanding applications warrant it.

Each project will be judged with the criteria below. Applications do not need to achieve all, but these are elements that our judges will be looking for.

Energy performance - Operational energy use, Air tightness, R-values/assembly/envelope, renewable energy integration, certifications & standards (e.g. Passive House, LEED, Energy Star, Net Zero)

Materials & embodied carbon - Low-carbon materials, local sourcing, reuse/recycling

Site & landscape - Ecosystem preservation, stormwater management, native plantings

Health & wellbeing - Air quality, thermal comfort, daylighting

Design excellence - Aesthetic quality, livability, creativity

Other - Elements that go above and beyond and are not captured in other score categories

June 24: Submissions Open

Aug. 14 at 11:59PM: Submissions Close

Aug. 18 – Sept. 18 Application judging

November 5: Winners announced at Green Home + Design Awards held at Maine Studio Works.

Spring 2027: Award winners featured in Spring issue of Green & Healthy Maine HOMES magazine and on the greenmainehomes.com website.

All projects will be displayed at the Green Home + Energy Show, April 3, 2027, unless applicant opts out of this display.

Green & Healthy Maine HOMES retains publishing rights for photography and text from winning entries to be printed in the magazine and displayed on greenmainehomes.com.

Applicant benefits:

All applicants will have their project poster displayed at the awards event on November 5th in Portland as well as in the 2026 Green Home + Design Awards lookbook, and receive a complimentary ticket to the event. In addition, award posters will also be displayed in the Awards Gallery at the Green Home + Energy Show on April 3, 2027.

Winner benefits:

All first-place winners for each category will receive the applicant benefits noted above. In addition, winning projects will be featured on the Green Home + Design Awards page on our website, with backlinks to team member websites. The Awards page will remain live on our site throughout the year and into subsequent years. Winning projects will be featured in the 2027 spring edition of the Green & Healthy Maine HOMES magazine and featured in one of our monthly e-newsletters.