In partnership with LA Metro, the inaugural competition challenged the next generation of shade-makers to create shade designs that can be adapted to fit a wide variety of real-world use cases.

A jury of 11 distinguished members from public agencies, community organizations, and design and architecture evaluated the designs submitted for the Shade Zones Design Competition. All submissions were anonymized and evaluated blind by the jury throughout the judging process. Jurors were unable to see the team name, student names, or schools associated with any of the submissions. The submissions were scored evenly across 12 categories: architectural design, structural design, shade strategy, buildability, innovation, sustainability, adaptability, scalability, accessibility, community design, communication design, accessibility, execution and reuse. Each submission was evaluated by two jurors. The top-scoring submissions were further discussed by the jury, which deliberated twice to determine which submissions should be awarded in each category.

The general public participated in the Fan Favorite vote from February 9-16, with over 1,000 people from around the world casting votes. 

Designs were considered for the following award categories: