Submissions for the Chicago Bungalow Association’s 2023 Driehaus awards are open through September 27, 2023 (11: 59 PM CST).
Submit your project here!

Nomination requirements

• You must live in a Certified brick Chicago bungalow.
• Your bungalow must be located within the city limits of Chicago.
• Your project must be completed within the last five years.
• You must include at least one before photo and three after photos.

Things to consider before submission

What category your project fits into. Here are the categories listed on the CBA’s website:

• Exterior Rehabilitation: Appropriate rehab or restoration of exterior areas (including garages), or compatible new additions
• Interior Rehabilitation: Rehab of interior area for contemporary use while main maintaining significant bungalow features
• Interior Restoration: Accurately recovers historic details and forms of the Chicago bungalow
• Small Project: Completed at a cost of $5,000 or less
• Green Project: Demonstrates sustainability or energy-efficiency
• Landscape Design: Gardening and landscaping to enhance the home’s visual impression
• Window Restoration: Repair or restoration of original wood windows (NOT window replacement)

What’s the difference between rehabilitation and restoration? Rehabilitation refers to historically sympathetic updates for your home’s exterior or interior…basically improving upon what’s already there, whether it’s improving the function or aesthetics of a space, while not trying to turn your bungalow into something it’s not. Restoration means putting your bungalow back to exactly how it was when it was built (which can involve recreating elements that were removed at some point in the past).

Here are some great examples of rehabilitation vs. restoration from past Driehaus award winners:

Things to gather before writing up a submission

You want to have a couple of things on hand before you begin the submission process.

• Before, during, and after photographs: These don’t have to be professional photos, and sometimes even the real estate listing photos make a good ‘before’ photo if you forgot to snap one. For the ‘after’ photos, just make sure the images are well lit and not blurry. You can submit up to 10 photos of your project, so make them count!
• What were you trying to address during this project: Were you trying to fix something? Did you have an idea on how to improve something? What was your reasoning for starting this project in the first place?
• Cost estimates and time: How much did you spend? How long did it take you?
• Names of professionals and/or contractors: If the project wasn’t a do-it-yourself job, who did you enlist to help make your dream a reality? And, yes! Professional projects qualify for submission!
• The process you went through: Briefly explain your decisions and why you made them. Did you choose that tile because it fit a 1920s aesthetic? Did you see something in a friend’s bungalow that you wanted to recreate? Did you just need more storage?

How to submit a project

• Choose your category.
• Fill in your personal information and answer the question boxes.
• Upload your photos: A good ratio to consider is 1-3 ‘before’ pictures + 1-2 ‘during’ pictures + 3 or more ‘after’ pictures. The only requirement is that you have to upload at least one ‘before’ photo and at least three ‘after’ photos, but it’s worth it to try to hit the max number of 10 photos.
• Hit that submit button!
• After submission you should receive a confirmation email.
• In about two weeks, you’ll receive a follow-up email from the Chicago Bungalow Association.

Things to keep in mind

You can submit more than one project at a time and if you don’t win this year, you can resubmit next year (as long as you’re within the five year limit for project completion). Don’t have a project to submit? You can always nominate someone else! Yes, if you have a neighbor or friend that is doing a project that would fit into one of the categories, and you want to highlight their work, you can nominate that person for a Driehaus award!

Good luck!