Competitions give you a real brief, a real deadline, and a finished project for your portfolio — without needing to wait for a summer program. These are open to high school students.
Open to U.S. high school and secondary school students, individually or in teams. The 2026 prompt is “Story Space: Two Places for Storytelling.”
https://www.norwich.edu/academics/non-degree-and-high-school-student-programs/camps-hands-learning-experiences/high-school-architecture-design-competition-story-spaceFor students ages 13–18, individually or in teams of 1–5. Students design a building and its HVAC systems using 3D design software.
https://www.ashrae.org/communities/student-zone/competitions/ashrae-high-school-design-competitionOpen to students in grades 9–11. The architecture category requires an architectural drawing and accepts both hand-drawn and original digital work.
https://faa.illinois.edu/student-resources/future-students/high-school-competition/Open to high school students worldwide. Students develop an architectural design and communicate it through drawings, models, and writing.
https://www.afsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026_AFSF_HSDC-Brief.pdfSpecifically for Georgia high school students, with Beginner and Advanced categories.
https://aiaatl.org/hsdc/A juried competition for middle and high school students exploring the relationship between art and the built environment.
https://www.aia.org/resource-center/k-12-initiatives/k-12-student-competitionA high school competitive event where students respond to an annual architecture challenge by creating architectural plans, physical and computer-generated models, and a virtual walkthrough.
https://tsaweb.org/competitions/%21hs/-in-category/categories/architecture-and-construction-technology