BEHIND THE SCENES: Chapter One Planning the SARAs Design Awards Program

By Walt Geiger, FARA
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2018 Jury Day [Committee (C) & Jury (J)], L to R. clockwise: Abby Schwartz (C), Peter Weishar (J), Christiaan Dinkeloo (J), David Stofcik (J), David Yocum (J), Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (J), Dennis Dong (C), Walt Geiger (C) and Beverly Davidson (C)


The SARAs goal of providing students, members and non-members a national platform for recognition of excellence in architecture and design is a 52-week process led completely by volunteer members dedicated to Celebrating Architecture and Design. With the coronavirus pandemic requiring all of us to social distance, work remotely and self-schedule in place, this is an opportune time to share the details of the extensive planning efforts expended for the SARA National Design Awards program and how it works behind the scenes. Our first ‘chapter’ focuses on the year-long schedule required to present awards of excellence, merit, honor and Jury’s Choice to students and professionals from the U.S. and other parts of the world.

The Committee

Our dedicated committee convenes for hour-long, weekly teleconferences which are agenda-driven, full of energy and bursting with enthusiasm! Each member is hyper-proactive, spearheading his/her tasks, self-motivating, self-scheduling and self-researching information with the goal of action-centric weekly reporting.

Our committee members focus on sub-committee responsibilities: 

  • Graphics development: Lily Meier, Stephanie Bass 
  • Jury selection:  Walt Geiger, David Stofcik  Data base building and maintenance: Beverly Davidson
  • Event planning: Abby Schwartz, Daria Surowiak, Meredyth Santurio-Sager
  • Sponsorship: Dennis Dong and Erika Hasenfus  
  • Administrative, promotion and finances: Dennis Dong, Beverly Davidson
  • Arts in the Community Service Award: Meredyth Santurio-Sager


The Timeline

November and December  Following the previous year’s, late-October gala event, a 60-day research and development process kicks off the annual program.  Graphics development is initiated for the “Student Call for Entries” to be blasted in early January. Jury selection begins with the identification of 50 to 60 potential jurors, rigorously categorizing each person’s background and accomplishments through a 5-point selection matrix which emphasizes diversity on multiple levels. Event planning gets underway with extensive research and assembling lists of possible venues. Exhaustive data base collection focuses on deans, professors and students in the region of the event. Numerous sponsor ideas are generated. Administrative work at this time includes the establishment of a current year budget, the annual review of submission fees, and a discussion of lessons learned from previous year(s) followed by suggestions and recommendations for the coming year.

Because the SARAs National Award Program overlaps with several SARA Councils’ Design Awards program schedules, the SARAs Call for Entries (CFE) are staggered, by design, to eliminate confusion and redundancy between Council and National programs.  The SARAs committee works diligently to work around Council programs in service to their “National-helping-Councils” philosophy.  This philosophy results in Student CFEs beginning January with Professional CFEs beginning in mid-April of each year.

January

“Student Call for Entries” e-blast is distributed during the first week of the month. Later in the month, we refine the Jury list to twelve, and the contenders are placed in order of preference. At this time, we also determine the date of a trip to the event city, and we make appointments to visit each potential event venue. Exploration of possible sponsors continues.

February and March

Student reminder e-blasts are sent out both the second and fourth weeks of each month. The jury is refined further through calls, commitments, and letters of confirmation. In February, several committee members travel to the destination city to scout potential venues, and in March, optional catering menus and event costs are explored. Sponsorship development continues, and a draft list of possible community service award recipients is identified and reported to the committee.

April 

April is an exciting month as the five committed jurors are introduced with bios and photos to SARA and the potential submitters, and Jury Day place/facility is arranged for a July date. “Professional Call for Entries” e-blast is sent out mid-April. Event planning continues with the selection of a venue, while catering, presentation details, and awards materials are designed and developed. Sponsorship coordination efforts continue with initial commitments being established. The community service award list is narrowed, and Jurors’ flights and hotel accommodations are arranged.

May and June

Submissions begin to arrive, and we really start to get excited! Again, Professional and Student reminder e-blasts are sent out during the second and fourth weeks of each month. Jury goals, expectations and protocol document as well as scoring/tallying/ranking documents are sent to Jurors for their information. The end of June involves the huge task of assembling all submitter materials into visual presentation for Jury Day. Venue and vendor contract and insurance details get underway to include florists, musicians, etc., as applicable for the current year, and the community service award recipient is decided, contacted and congratulated!

July

Submissions continue and the last” Call for Entries” is blasted to professionals and students in mid-July. Arrangements are made for catering and other details for Jury Day. All submission materials are sent to Jurors for their initial review. The week prior to jury Day is a busy week, as final submissions arrive and are quickly sent to jurors. Event planning and sponsoring activities continue. The community service award recipient is asked to prepare a presentation for the program, and program speakers are considered. Our graphics group begins to design the event invitation.

Jury Day

Our favorite day! The five-person Jury assembles to review the hundreds of projects which have been submitted. Moderated by David Stofcik, Executive Architect, Walt Disney Imagineering, and attended by several members of our committee, the Jury convenes for a twelve hour, very long day of discussion, banter, deliberation and food - the long day requires a lot of energy boosting!

August and September

Invitations to the event are blasted to all in our data base, and now, the detailed work REALLY kicks in. Event vendor details and contracts are formalized to include coordination of all providers’ activities with the facilities manager. The list of final sponsors goes to graphics for event cards, collateral, and boards design/production. Establishing of details for the show begin: Master of Ceremonies, Chairperson, other speakers, show order and awardee flow on/off stage, graphic materials, timing sequences, audio/lighting/stage organization, text for presentations, etc. Administrative work continues to include tracking of winners, arranging payments to all providers, etc.

October

The first part of October is extremely hectic – finalizing everything! Then the day arrives, and we are all excited to share the fruits of our labor. Regardless of the date of our event this year, we would love to see all of you are the gala event to celebrate excellence in design!

Postscript #1: 2020 Pandemic

This schedule has been the template for the past four years operations and does not account for what is currently being revised due to the impact of the pandemic.  As this chapter ‘goes to print’, both National and individual councils are jointly collaborating and revising their schedules to adjust to the circumstances affecting submissions counts, availability of event places and dates impacted by state mandates for social re-engagement.  Stay plugged in everyone, for revised National and Council awards program new dates and places!

Postscript #2

In the introduction, we mentioned that we are all self-scheduling.  Working from home has given us a bit of a windfall with our time.  Commuting, meetings and conferences time not spent has allowed us more personal time.  It might be a good time for all of us to reflect on our work, the achievements we have all experienced and projects that might be shared with the greater architecture design community through the submission of the awards program.  Currently the SARAs are, like all other organizations, re-thinking protocol for opening submissions to a broader audience of students, members and non-members with many ideas addressing the resultant paradigm shift coming from the virus. Think about it!




2019 Event Day
2019 Event Day

2019 Event Day [Committee (C) & attending Jury (J), L. to R.: Abby Schwartz (C), Juan Moreno (J), Brian Lee (J), Mark Nagis (J), David Stofcik (J- Moderator), Suzanne Musho (J), Walt Geiger(C), Lily Meier (C), Beverly Davidson (background, C) and Dennis dong (C). Not in this photo is Juror Carol Ross Barney.

About the Author: Walt Geiger is SARA National President Elect, and a co-chair of SARA's successful Annual Awards Program. He is a retired Principal of the international firm, MG2. Hit the button below if you have any questions for Walt about this article.  His opinions may not be those of the Society of American Registered Architects.