Consider every category!

By The Coffee Shops™. 

Contractors should take a fresh look at their portfolios before the August 5 deadline to see where their projects can stand out. 

Every year, hundreds of exceptional projects are submitted to the Hardscape North America (HNA) Awards. This award contest has over a dozen categories for entry, creating ample opportunity for outstanding hardscape work across residential and commercial projects.  

To get ready for this year’s awards, we wanted to highlight some of the unique categories included in the awards that are a great opportunity to showcase your team’s unique craftsmanship and eye for detail. 

Categories to consider 

One opportunity is Segmental Concrete Pavement – Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavement (PICP) category. As permeable pavement continues to grow in popularity for sustainable stormwater management, projects that incorporate PICP can highlight both craftsmanship and environmental design. 

Another category to consider is Retaining Walls – Commercial and Segmental Concrete Pavement – Commercial. This category is a great way to showcase your team’s ability to handle many moving parts as commercial retaining wall projects often involve engineering challenges, difficult grades, site stabilization and integration into larger developments. Do you have a plaza, streetscape, campus and/or public gathering project that showcases precision, durability and thoughtful design at scale? Enter it to this HNA category!  

Porcelain Paver Pavement – Residential and Commercial and Adhered Thin Veneers – Residential and Commercial are also categories that historically draw smaller crowds. But that doesn’t mean that eligible projects aren’t great examples of craftsmanship. From patios and rooftop terraces to outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, seat walls and columns, these applications can demonstrate how hardscape materials transform outdoor spaces.  

And one of the most distinctive of the smaller categories is Vintage Installation, which recognizes projects completed more than 10 years ago that continue to perform beautifully today.  

Getting it submitted 

As we mentioned earlier, submissions for the 2026 contest close on August 5, 2026. Make sure you enter your project before that to get a chance to win recognition and acclaim at this year’s HNA Awards!  

Not sure which category is the best fit for your project? Consider entering it into multiple! Jeremy R. Martin, owner of Willow Gates Home and Landscape LLC and a 2025 HNA Award Winner, explained, “If a project can be entered into multiple categories, why not? If it’s a permeable paver patio next to a pool with some retaining walls, it could easily be eligible for three different categories!” 

Another important note is that “projects for consideration must have been completed between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2026. The only exception is projects for consideration in the Vintage Installation category which must have been completed before 2017.” 

Learn more about finding the best fit for your 2026 HNA Awards project by reviewing the full category descriptions.