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after months of waiting, you get the phone call you've been hoping for: The project you entered in a design awards program has been chosen as a winner. You let out a cheer, send a congratulatory e-mail around the office, and pop open the champagne. Now what?

Having your design skills validated by other distinguished architects is no small thing. As a mark of personal achievement, a professional award carries more weight than getting your work published in the popular press, because it's judged by a more critical collective eye. When a jury of peers gives a thumbs-up to your talent, it lets you know you where you stand and what you're doing right.

For a handful of firms, such validation is its own reward; no further fuss is called for. Some architects, in fact, are ambivalent about touting their own honors. They don't want to sound boastful. George Suyama, FAIA, a partner with the Seattle-based Suyama Peterson Deguchi, has a philosophy that's in sync with the firm's understated sense of design. "The announcement of design awards is more successful when it doesn't come from us," he says. "We don't have a large firm that demands full-time marketing. We're in that dilemma zone thinking we should do more, but feeling uncomfortable about doing it."

What you do with awards, of course, will depend on why you submit projects in the first place, and on the size of your firm. Carlos Jimenez Studio, in Houston, also plays it low-key. As the owner of a four-person firm and a professor of architecture at Rice University, Carlos Jimenez views design awards as a measure of achievement within academic circles, rather than as grist for the marketing mill. "Awards become part of our resume, but are not something we pursue for marketing in the proper sense of the word," he says. "For me, they're more interesting in the sense that they're appreciations by others in the field; it's nice to get positive feedback. But it's not something we advertise very much."

Joan Capelin, Capelin Communications in Manhattan, offers up a very different perspective. A communications consultant for design professionals, she is convinced that a design award isn't the end, but the means to an end, which is to attract clients and talented staff. "It's the golden door," she says, "the chance to put forth your approach to design. A lot of design professionals miss the perspective going forward." Capelin believes that design awards carry a lot of meaning and that architects should seize the opportunity to make the most of them, in a tasteful way.

small but strategic

Small- to mid-sized firms have devised simple, cost-effective ways to get the word out. Roger Ferris + Partners, Westport, Conn., works hard to accumulate kudos, entering three or four carefully selected awards programs each year. In order to defray some of the marketing costs while capitalizing on visibility, should a project win, the firm gives top priority to sponsoring organizations that have a strong Web presence. "We recently picked up a project from a client I never would have had contact with in South Carolina, because of an AIA award that got posted on some Web site somewhere," says Ferris, AIA, adding: "You ultimately have to distinguish yourself by your work. You underscore a project and a client will take a second look. If you're trying to convince them to try something extraordinary, the award helps."

Upon hearing good news, the first thing Obie G. Bowman Architect, AIA, does is to update the online resume. The three-member firm may also mail postcards to consultants, friends, and clients--past to prospective. "Our having won the award is beneficial to current clients," says Helena Bowman, Obie Bowman's wife and office manager, in Healdsburg, Calif. "They're gratified they've made the right choice." She spends about eight hours putting together a photo postcard explaining why the project won and what the design attempted to accomplish. In the scheme of things, the printing costs are negligible--less than $200 for 500 cards. Bowman also sends a press release to local newspapers, which she says almost always carry the announcement.

Most small firms, which lack dedicated marketing departments, could use a little help writing press releases. But Bowman is on the right track. Capelin says press releases should announce not only that you won but why, emphasizing that your firm has a particular gift for something.

Maybe you're on the leading edge of a trend, or good with color, or clever about how money was spent. Shelter magazines, local publications, and newspapers should be on the mailing list. "And don't ignore cable or even network television. In any metro area there's always a morning talk show," says Capelin, whose new book, Principles for Principals: Insights and Anecdotes About What Makes Professional Firms Thrive, is due out this month. Whereas press releases are usually reserved for the media, Internet announcements can be broadcast to "just about anyone who would possibly care," Capelin says. "Even if your business is colleges and universities and you do one house a year, everyone has the common experience of living in a house."

accolade etiquette

Clients, of course, are the first people who should receive the news of an award, not only as a professional courtesy but because their funding and creative spirit made the project possible. And so the praise needs to be turned back on them. Jessica Olshen, account director at Clifford Public Relations in Manhattan, recommends that architects send an e-mail or handwritten note of thanks to the client for helping the firm to build a stellar body of work. "What architects owe to clients can't be overstated," she says. "It's good business, but also just true to acknowledge that," Some architects take the gesture a step farther by framing a subsequent article about the award and giving it to the owners in a celebratory way.

When the winning house is in a region where an architect has done multiple projects, Olshen can make the honor go farther. She sends a notice not only to the owners but also to former and prospective clients in the area. "It builds their pride in their home and the region they're living in," she says, while planting the possibility for new work. "Everyone wants to be working with a star." For example, one of Olshen's clients, New York City--based architect Dennis Wedlick, AIA, has many clients in the Hudson Valley, a popular weekend destination for Manhattan residents. "The fact that he's able to have that kind of foothold in the region is due to the support of clients in that area," she says.

Krueck & Sexton, Chicago, takes a similar approach. When word of a winner comes in, the firm e-mails thank-you notes to everyone who made the project happen, from clients to contractors and furniture installers. Rico Cedro, AIA, the firm's director of sustainability, will often include a short press release that describes who gave the award and what made the project unique. "In the case of corporate clients, many times we'll see that verbiage appear on their Web site and reports," Cedro explains. "So, first and foremost, we use those people who are involved closely with the project to spread word to the community and multiply our effect."

So that it can respond quickly, the firm has already gone over the ground rules with the client about what it will call the project and what level of information can be released to the general public. "Before the project is finished, it's very important to get that done, as part of the normal process," Cedro says. "Some people are sensitive about telling the acreage of the property; some want to say the house was designed for a family, not a family of four." At that point, photography has already been carefully choreographed. "Most people give us 100 percent access to the building, but sometimes there's artwork they don't want people to know about," Cedro says. "Then we'll photograph it either before it's installed or not make those pieces part of the shoot."