About the award
Established in 2012, the IHS Alumni Impact Award is a competition that takes place every two years, with the aim of recognising and supporting worldwide urban initiatives of IHS alumni. Through this platform, IHS alumni who make an impact in their cities and communities through innovative small scale urban initiatives and projects can showcase their work and inspire other urban professionals to become change-makers. This year, the closing event and ceremony for the award will take place in October, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. More information will be shared soon.
The application for the IHS Alumni Impact Award competition opens on May 27 2026.
How the award is structured
The IHS Alumni Impact Award 2026 is envisioned as a hybrid competition, consisting of the following phases:
- Application
IHS alumni worldwide will be invited to submit initiatives, projects, or organizations that demonstrate measurable or meaningful local impact. The submissions are made through an online application form.
- Promotion of the submissions
Complete and valid submissions will be featured on the website, and each project will be promoted on social media and in a dedicated newsletter, for more visibility within the IHS network.
- Selection
This is a three-step process, structured as follows:
- Community voting: individuals can vote for their favourite initiative online, for a limited amount of time. Please note that the vote has a limited weight in the total score which determines the finalists and its main role is to increase the visibility of the initiatives and participating alumni.
- Expert jury evaluation: this is the most important selection step, as the expert panel will approach the process in a qualitative manner. The jury members will be announced at a later stage.
- Alumni Board evaluation (same modality as the jury).
4. Final event in Rotterdam
The final event will take place in one half a day, and it will bring together finalists, alumni, staff, students, partners and urban professionals in the Netherlands. The event will have two parts: a two-hour workshop, followed by a festive part which includes the award ceremony and networking drinks.
Do you want to know more about the award structure and stages? Check the graphic below for an overview of the process.
If you have questions, please contact us at alumni@ihs.nl
Curious about the last edition's contestants and winners?
You can view all of last edition's participating initiatives, take a look at the three finalist projects or watch the webinar with the finalists.