Twenty-seven years ago, a small group of timber industry professionals had a simple idea: find Australia’s best timber design projects and put them in front of the world. What followed became the longest-running timber design competition in the country, a program that has since recognised almost 4,000 projects and produced Grand Prix winners that have gone on to claim some of the most prestigious design titles on earth.
The 2026 edition is now open. Early bird pricing closes at 7 pm this Friday, May 29. Final entries close July 3.
The story of what the ATDA has produced in 27 years is, in many ways, the story of Australian timber design itself. ARM Architecture’s Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Renewal took the 2023 Grand Prix after recycling brush box and white birch already in the hall to reconstruct solid carved acoustic panelling at the World Heritage site. Bates Smart followed in 2024 with the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. In 2025, Archer Office’s adaptive reuse of a condemned 1892 boot factory in Bondi Junction claimed the prize and has since collected further national and international recognition. In 2017, the Tzannes-designed International House at Barangaroo walked away as World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam. None of those teams knew, when they filled out their entry form, what the awards would do for their work. They entered anyway.
“Australia’s architects and designers are doing extraordinary things with timber. We want to see it,” said Kylan Low, Awards Organiser. “The Australian Timber Design Awards exist to celebrate that work and share it with the world.”
That invitation extends well beyond landmark public buildings. The 2026 program is open to projects of any scale, residential, commercial or public, that feature timber structures or finishes. A bespoke family home sits alongside a national cultural institution in these awards. A hospitality fit-out belongs here as much as a university campus. There is no minimum project size, and the judges look for no single aesthetic. What the judges have always looked for, across all 27 years, is exceptional design and an intelligent use of timber.
If your project delivers that, it belongs in the conversation.
