The Bay Awards

Calling all pioneering urban projects and initiatives!

DEADLINE

29th May

Submit your application

Apply with your project and be part of The Bay Awards 2027

The Bay Awards are an international platform that recognizes and connects pioneering urban projects and initiatives from across the world. They highlight bold ideas, collaborative approaches and long-term visions that respond to today’s most pressing urban challenges.

Following the success of The Bay Awards 2024, the initiative continues to grow as a global meeting point for cities, institutions, organizations and companies committed to shaping more inclusive, resilient and sustainable urban environments.

What are The Bay Awards?

The Bay Urban Visioning Awards recognize urban projects, initiatives and long-term transformation processes that generate meaningful impact and contribute to rethinking the future of cities and metropolitan regions.

They showcase solutions that combine innovation, cooperation and strategic vision, with the capacity to inspire other territories through transferability, shared learning and long-term value creation.

Each edition of The Bay Awards reflects the key challenges facing cities today, structured through a set of award categories that frame different dimensions of urban transformation.

Discover the Awards categories 2027

Six categories reflecting today’s urban challenges

1

Horizon Shaper Award

2

Partners in Progress Award

3

SDG Champions Award

4

Prosperity Catalyst Award

5

Metropolitan Connection

6

Urban Pioneers Award

Building on The Bay Awards 2024

The first edition of The Bay Awards, held in 2024, recognized urban initiatives from different territories and contexts, highlighting projects with tangible results and long-term value for their communities.

The current edition builds on this experience, strengthening The Bay Awards as a platform for knowledge-sharing, international dialogue and collaboration between cities and urban actors worldwide.

Explore The Bay Awards 2024

More about Summit

More about Gala

A Bilbao Metropoli 30 initiative

Bilbao Metropoli 30 is a public-private association founded in 1991, which brings together almost 140 public entities, private companies and social organizations. Our goal is to address jointly the ecological, economic, cultural and social well-being of the Bilbao metropolis in the future, as well as to encourage transformative projects that would help us achieve this mission.

Bilbao Metropoli 30 was one of the catalysts of the joint public, private and civic efforts that enabled Bilbao to reemerge from a period of deep economic, political and social crisis. Now we are ready for the next challenge.

Meet The Bay Awards 2024 winners & finalists

Why The Bay Awards?

We need to address the imperative needs of our cities and metropolises in a radical and disruptive way. These challenges are not impossible to address, but we cannot wait any longer. We need an URBAN REVOLUTION.

The Bay Awards aim to spark and strengthen radical and consensual actions and measures between cities, regions, organizations and people around the world to push for a completely different status quo and build our collective capacity to respond to today’s pressing urban challenges.

Why in Bilbao?

It is no coincidence that this initiative is taking place in Bilbao. The revitalization process of Metropolitan Bilbao over the past thirty year has been internationally recognized as a successful model of transformation from an industrial region to a modern cultural metropolis. This process proved that an urban revolution is possible, but this journey is not over – neither in Bilbao nor anywhere else around the world. Safeguarding ecological, economic, cultural and social well-being is an ongoing task that requires collective action.