There is no dedicated awards recognising built environment professionals who use their expertise, passion, and energy to participate with future generations to architecture and the built environment, while amplifying young people’s voices in shaping their future surroundings.

On their fifth anniversary, the Inspire Future Generations Awards (IFGA) lead the way in acknowledging and celebrating best practice in this emerging and critically important field. The IFGA provide an opportunity to build capacity, share knowledge, and inspire continued innovation.

To learn more about the focus and criteria of the IFGA, please refer to our latest Empowering Environments Report, available via our Store.

Each of the awards has separate criteria.

Broadly speaking they are open to practitioners, architects, planners, and other built environment professionals, local authorities, construction industries, not for profits and built environment organisations.

All entries must have been completed within the last 8 years.

Please see the entry criteria for each Award category.

Applications are made online using a simple form on our website. We have condensed all the main steps into our the ‘How to enter’ guide.

Applications need to be made through our website. Unfortunately, we cannot accept applications by any other method. If you have any problem accessing this platform, email us: inspireawards@thorntoneducationtrust.org

Please note that all applications must be written in English.

There are three sections: Projects Section, Best of Section, and Inspiring Individuals Section. Within these three a total of 16 categories.

Each category has its own dedicated submission form. To access it, visit the page for the category you wish to enter and click the ‘Enter Now’ button to complete your application.

International applications can apply to ALL categories listed in the Projects Section.

Note that International cannot apply for the standard Climate Change category, as there is a separate, dedicated for them - International Award for Climate Change.

You can make as many projects as you wish but you can only make a maximum of 2 categories per project (excluding the Best of…).

Yes. While these Awards are not designed for profit, we charge entry fees to cover essential running and administrative costs. We appreciate your understanding and honesty when entering.

Fees vary by entry type:

a) For the Project Section:

• £69.00 per entry for small not-for-profits

• £149.00 per entry for built environment companies, development companies, local authorities, and institutions

b) For the Best of Category:

• £60.00 per entry for small not-for-profits

• £129.00 per entry for built environment companies, development companies, local authorities, and institutions

See discounted fees when one puts in a project for two categories - see point 7

Yes, you may submit the same entry in up to one additional category. To support this, we offer a discounted rate for your second category entry of the same project:

• £55.00 for small not-for-profits
  (Apply discount code: IFGA25notprofit2ndcategory at the end of the submission form)

• £105.00 for profit companies and local authorities
  (Apply discount code: IFGA25company2ndcategory at the end of the submission form)

Impact – what is the overall impact of your project, what are the tangible benefits to children and young people, how have you been able to measure them, and if the project has met its objectives.

Insights – what this tells us about best practice. For instance, what are the best practices learned from the initiative, how is this being shared, how far-reaching is the scope of the initiative, what are the challenges that arose and how did you overcome them, lessons learned.

Metrics - How many children and young people has it engaged, did all stay the course of the projects, when did it begin?

Reflection - Self reflection (individual or organisation) - How has the experience by you or your team in engaging with young people influenced your/team’s own work/agency/lessons learnt?

We will ask for a lead contact person who we will liaise with on all correspondence.

• £60.00 per entry for small not-for-profits

• £129.00 per entry for built environment companies, development companies, local authorities, and institutions

We recommend that you have at least one project submitted in one of this year’s categories or shortlisted between 2021–2024. However, if you can clearly demonstrate relevant examples that were not included in the awards, these will also be accepted.

No, there is no fee to submit a nomination under the Inspiring Individual of the Year category.

We invite nominations for individuals—whether working independently or as part of a team—who have gone the extra mile and made an outstanding contribution to the field of built environment engagement.

Nominees for Inspiring Individual of the Year (either in the New Talent or Established subcategory) must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Be part of a project entered in this year’s IFG Awards 2024;

• Be a member of a winning or shortlisted team from the past three years (2021–2024);

• In exceptional circumstances, where no project has been submitted, individuals may still be considered if sufficient evidence of impact is provided.

Please note: Third-party nominations only are accepted for this category.

Yes! If you applied in one or more project categories in the past awards and are submitting as part of the Best of category, you can access a discount code:

• IFGA25BestofNotProfit2year - discount code for small not-for-profit organisations

• IFGA25BestofCompany2year - discount code for built environment companies, developers, local authorities, and institutions

Yes!

Each award category is open for sponsorship as well the IFG Awards Ceremony, the IFGA itself, a prize for the Individuals of the Year.

Download our Sponsorship package here.

We would be delighted to discuss opportunities. Please email us at inspireawards@thorntoneducationtrust.org for more details.

All Categories are open to International applicants except Climage Change category as this year there is a specific International Award for Climate Change as we wish to highlight this challenge.

All forms have a few short sections where relevant information is requested, plus the opportunity to upload no more than 6 sides of A4 which may include photos, press, stats, testimonials etc (max 20mb). Note that we ask for these informations not only in regards to the Awards but also to the development of the next Empowering Environments Report, a piece of research developed alongside and after the Awards.

If you are having difficulty uploading the images, try a few times as can be temperamental and if still a problem, please email inspireawards@thorntoneducationtrust.org

Please note you cannot change your application after it has been submitted.

TET retains the right to amend category entered where appropriate.

Please note: There is a save function on the form. A full copy of your application will be automatically emailed to you after submission.

Email Gaia at gaia.vignali@thorntoneducationtrsut.org

An independent panel of leaders in education and the built environment select the winners, after carefully reviewing all entries.

The judging panel for IFGA25 has been published here.

After closing the submission portal, by the end of October 2025, the panel of judges will gather to articulate the shortlist.

We will advise all shortlisted finalists in writing end of November, while the winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony and Party in January 2026.

TET reserves the right to announce winners first, and the manner and details of announcing this is at our discretion. 

Unfortunately it may not be possible to correspond with unsuccessful applicants.

Fees can’t be refunded should you choose to withdraw.

TET reserves the right to publish and promote all content and imagery from submissions and you agree that relevant photography licences/permissions have been obtained. You agree that to the best of your knowledge we are free to use any images supplied to us, and grant TET permission to use these on our website and in any associated publicity without infringement of copyright. Credit line should be supplied.

We identified 6 types of engagement:

• Programme: long term, sustained, and comprehensive engagement

• Project: short term, focused engagement

• Workshop: interactive learning experiences that produce creativity and skill development

• Event: platforms that encourage broader engagement and community involvement

• Discussion and lectures: opportunities for knowledge exchange and fostering critical thinking

• Data collection and research: efforts to contribute to evidence-based practices, enhancing understanding of the needs and perspectives of children and young people

This information is useful to understand more deeply the type of engagement your project has been developming. Moreover, this help us in the design of the Empowering Environment. A report that TET develops immediately after the IFGA to understand, year by year, how this form of engagement is changing across the years. To know more about the last Report visit our Store.

Each year winners are invited to present their work through a series of online presentations and are considered as potential panelists for our quarterly TET Dialogue events.  Winning award entries are also added to the TET Resource Bank and featured in our annual Empowering Environment Report.