Vijay Garg, awards panel chairman said in a press release: “This year's award ceremony will be our tribute to the architectural city of New Delhi, which completes its centenary as our capital.” Kapil Mehta, awards panel secretary, adds “Architecture, being a part of our country’s contemporary culture and heritage, holding the event at Siri Fort auditorium endorses IIA’s commitment to assume a bigger role in global forums.”

Chosen by a jury of eminent architects from various parts of country, the prestigious IIA Awards would be bestowed upon architects for ‘Excellence in Architecture’. According to the press release of the architect body, only honorary and fellow member Architects from the IIA community are appointed to the Awards Committee and Jury Panel every year.

“This is the only award that is for the architects by the architects”, observes Sanjay Puri, winner of last year’s ‘residential’ category. Adding that the IIA Awards inspire immense respect and are acknowledged all over the world, Kamal S Malik, a well known architect and another winner from last year’s awards, expresses “the IIA Award is a wonderful platform for architects to showcase their creative talent at national level. The planning and professionalism with which these awards are organized, encourages participants to give in their best”.

For the first time in the history of IIA Awards, eight eminent architects will be inducted into the ‘Hall of Fame’ for their lifetime achievement.  This year’s Hall of fame inductees are Raj Rewal, M.R. Agnihotri, Ajoy Choudhury, Ram Sharma, C.N. Raghavendran (Padmashree), M.M Rana (Padmashree), A.R Bhalla (Padmashree), and Balbir Verma.

A national body of architects, IIA currently enjoys the membership pool of architects, designers, builders, industrialists, public luminaries, professors, researchers and creative professionals who are associated with architecture.