Announcement About 2025 Design Community Design Competitions for ASID Texas Chapter Members –
As we did in 2023, we as the Texas Chapter Board have decided against holding the individual Design Community (DC) design competitions for 2025 and only holding the Celebrating Design Texas Awards, the design competition open to the entire Texas Chapter.
We realize this decision may disappoint some of our members, especially in the Dallas DC, which has the largest design practitioner population and the longest history of DC competition. For this reason, we want to be completely transparent about the reasons behind this year's decision.
1) Participation
Since 2020 we have struggled to attract the number of entries we would like for truly healthy competitions in some DCs. Award competitions should be based on merit and quality of work, not necessarily deemed a winner as a participation or completion award. Below is a breakdown of the number of entries over the past few years:
Austin Design Excellence Awards
- 2020: 79 entries
- 2021: cancelled due to lack of entries
- 2022: 72 entries
- 2023: not held
- 2024: 80 entries
Dallas Design Ovation Awards
- 2020: 176 entries
- 2021: 133 entries
- 2022: 99 entries
- 2023: not held
- 2024: 125 entries
Fort Worth Shining Star Awards
- 2020: N/A (competition did not yet exist)
- 2021: inaugural competition cancelled due to lack of entries
- 2022: 57 entries (note: competition also open to non-ASID members)
- 2023: not held
- 2024: 75 entries (note: competition also open to non-ASID members)
San Antonio Pinnacle of Design Awards
- 2020: 40 entries
- 2021: 63 entries
- 2022: 41 entries
- 2023: not held
- 2024: 40 entries
2) Funding
Design competitions and awards events cost large amounts of money, and just like all design firms, manufacturers, and service providers for which our members work, we, the leaders of the ASID Texas Chapter, have the responsibility and obligation to be the best financial stewards possible of our limited budget.
Our financial goals for the year are to:
- Not dip into reserves in order to ensure a healthy, sustainable future for our entire Chapter, which includes our crucial DCs, as well as those residing in more rural areas. All together our Chapter members are a team, and we must support each other as a team because we are only as strong as our weakest component.
- Fund those programs and activities that most closely align with ASID’s Vision Statement: “ASID advances the profession and communicates the impact of interior design to enhance the human experience.”
- Find ways to give our vital Industry Partners even more value for their sponsorship dollars. For this reason, we have enhanced this year’s 2025 Chapter Sponsorship package, which we encourage you to learn more about HERE.
3) Volunteer Leaders
Just like many other volunteer organizations, whether within or outside of the interior design industry, it is more and more difficult to find members willing to invest the time to step up and volunteer for leadership on all levels.
Please understand that volunteer members are the main reason any and all Chapter and DC programming occurs. Some volunteer members have served on the Texas Board for over 10 years consistently. Yes, we have a part-time Chapter Administrator, but her function is helping to keep the leaders on track and ease the volunteer burden with day-to-day operations, conducts legal and financial operations for the chapter, reporting between the Chapter and Headquarters, etc.
Running design competitions and planning awards events take a significant amount of volunteer effort, which can be intimidating and daunting when there are fewer and fewer volunteers with whom to share the required tasks. We feel that recognition as an award winner should be part of the prestige and being able to consistently deliver a top-notch design awards event has proven to more difficult each year.
Therefore, not holding the DC design competitions in 2025 will allow us to:
- Make volunteer leadership more attractive and accessible.
- Free up valuable volunteer time to strengthen existing and establish new relationships with our members.
- Identify new leaders as to ensure the viability of and grow our Chapter’s future endeavors as to service our members even better.
4) Aligning our Chapter with the Entire Society’s Endeavors
GATHER, the National Conference by ASID has developed a strategic approach to its programming by alternating between large-scale and more intimate events. This format has proven to offer numerous benefits for both attendees and organizers.
To align with Headquarters’ strategy for the Society, we feel that hosting a large format event allows for broad participation, attracting a wide array of professionals and stakeholders in the design community. By maintaining a strategic balance, we can effectively serve our membership, drive engagement, and enhance the value of the awards experience for all participants.
Looking Forward to 2025
In 2025 we are celebrating ASID’s 50th Anniversary, and we want to focus on bringing all of our members together on both chapter level at our annual ASID Texas Chapter conference - Celebrating Design Texas: Education, Expo & Awards (CDT) - and promoting and encouraging attendance at the national level at GATHER, the national annual ASID conference, in Atlanta August 17-19.
We’re planning to make CDT even bigger and more special this year, so plan to be in Dallas July 16-18 for CDT25! We aim to provide with an event that provides diverse engagement, networking opportunities, and a variety in programming. What we have in the works so far:
- A Keynote featuring ASID National Chair David Euscher, ASID, NCIDQ, Associate AIA, WELL AP from Houston
- 14 hours of IDCEC-approved HSW CEUs on a variety of topical subjects
- A 30+ vendor Expo showcasing residential and commercial offerings
- 30-minute Pop-Up Talks focused on business, career development and relationship-building related subjects
- Design Insiders Tours
- Networking lunches and evening social events
- A special Awards Event – speaking of...
The CDT25 design competition will be open a full three months from February 1-April 30, an extended window to submit your projects. In addition to our annual Overall Best in Show in both the Commercial and Residential categories, we will also feature Best in Show winners within each of our Design Communities. (Note: Even if you live in a rural area, you are still part of one of the DCs and are eligible for these DC-centric Best in Shows, so please update your membership profile by logging into asid.org and designating which Design Community you are in.) Stay tuned for a complete list of 2025 CDT design competition categories on the CDT website.
The CDT25 Awards Event is set to be a significant highlight for our chapter and showcase the depth of talent within our chapter. CDT25 will be our sole design awards celebration akin to our own version of the Academy Awards. We hope that this year’s event reflects the spirit of our chapter and the accomplishments of our members, where we will celebrate both design professionals and volunteers while fostering connections among members, encourage collaboration, and build professional relationships.
This will be a landmark occasion that not only celebrates individual and collective accomplishments but also strengthens the bonds within our Chapter, creating lasting memories and inspiring future contributions by us all.
We aim to make it more special and encourage even more of you to join us in Dallas for it so that we can truly celebrate our members’ accomplishments - both as design professionals and volunteers - together as one cohesive Chapter.
Thank you for your understanding, and if you have questions about anything relayed here, please reach out to ASID Texas Chapter President Adrian Galvan, ASID Allied at president@tx.asid.org.
Respectfully,
The 2024-2025 ASID Texas Chapter Board