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Sustainability is gaining real momentum in home building. Owners understand more about it and manufacturers are offering an increasing choice of green materials.

The LookHome™ Green Design Awards recognise and reward the best in sustainable, affordable and innovative home design.

You can enter a new home, demonstration home, medium density or townhouse development, renovation or studio or shed AND you can also vote. An expert panel will pick the winner in each category in the Experts' Choice awards and online voters will pick the winners in the Popular Choice awards.

View the entries and winners from 2009

If you are having trouble with the awards entry system at any time, please contact us at (02) 9638 9875 during business hours or email to jared.dawson@jameshardie.com.au

ENTRANTS' PRIZES

The five Experts' Choice winners will win a trip for two valued at over $10,000 to the world's biggest green building conference, Greenbuild 2010, in November 2010 in Chicago, USA*.

Each of these winning projects will also be featured in the 2010 LookHome™ Design Annual (out in Oct). Each six-page feature is valued at $23,955.

The five Popular Choice winners will each win a five-page feature article valued at $19,962 in the 2010 LookHome™ Design Annual.

There are also 5 bonus prizes. The LookHome™ team will award these to entries that feature Scyon™ or James Hardie® products throughout the entry period. Each winner receives a double page spread in Houses magazine valued at $7,470 AND a five-page feature article in the 2010 LookHome™ Design Annual valued at $19,962.

Learn more about how to enter and read the full terms and conditions here.

*Option of trip to London SB11 no longer available as prize
We had originally intended to offer the option of a trip for two to London SB11 to the winners in each award category. Unfortunately, however, owing to the dates and venue for SB11 having been changed, we are no longer able to offer this trip as a prize. Winners in each award category will therefore win the trip for two to Greenbuild 2010 in Chicago. The terms and conditions have been amended accordingly.

VOTERS' PRIZES

Two great prizes worth $5,000 are up for grabs. 'The Savviest Voter', whose top faves most closely match the experts' final winners and 'The Top Voter', who casts the most votes will walk away with a $5,000 prize aimed squarely at the would-be renovator or homeowner. Included is:

• Scyon™ products to the value of $4,000
• A $1,000 Universal VISA Gift card

Top Referrer Competition Cancelled

Naturally we hope you find LookHome so useful that you'll want to tell your friends about it! With this in mind, we had intended to run a competition rewarding the person who tells the most friends via a referral facility on this site. We had only ever thought that participants in this competition would make referrals in good faith to those of their friends that they thought would genuinely be interested in the material on LookHome and who wouldn't mind receiving the referral. However, upon reflection, we appreciate that there is scope for this competition to be abused and the potential for it to generate unwanted emails and spam for some recipients of referrals by referrers who adopt a scatter gun approach with a view to trying to win a prize.

We want LookHome to be a positive experience for all and not be a source of unwanted emails. So, to do our bit to help reduce the amount of spam out there, we have decided to cancel the Top Referrer competition and to remove the tell-a-friend link from our website.

If you do think that any of your friends would be interested in LookHome, by all means forward them a link but we suggest you check with them first that they would like to receive it. We also confirm that there will be no prizes offered by James Hardie in connection with any such referrals.

We're sorry not to be able to run this competition but are sure you'll understand and appreciate why we have decided not to!

Read the full terms and conditions here.

JUDGES

A panel of 5 judges will choose one Experts' Choice winner in each category. They'll also commend one plan-stage entry in each category if needed. Here's the panel:

Robert Caulfield, Strategic Marketing Director, CKDesignworks
Since graduating from the RMIT in 1974, Robert has not only developed a thriving architectural practice but also founded Archicentre Limited, the building advisory service of the AIA. In 2003 he was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal for his contributions to architecture.

Sue Harris, Publisher, Architecture Media Pty Ltd
Sue Harris started in architectural publishing in 1994. She became editorial director then publisher of Architecture Media's design titles — Houses, Architecture Australia, Artichoke, Landscape Architecture Australia and Architectural Product News — in 2005.

Noel Dyett, Managing Director, Curnow Dyett
Noel runs Bendigo's oldest estate agency, Curnow Dyett, where he's a licensed estate agent, Certified Practising Valuer and an experienced auctioneer. He retains a CPA designation as a Certified Practising Accountant and is a past national president of the REIA

Stephen Berry, Director - Commercial Building Energy Efficiency. Buildings Government and Energy Efficiency Branch, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
Stephen has used his business management, applied science and public policy qualifications in his long career in the Australian Public Service. He provides advice on building performance issues, environmental rating systems, building industry education as well as training programmes and market instruments.

Ralph Horne, Director, Centre for Design, RMIT
Ralph Horne has over 15 years' experience in research on environmental and urban systems, life cycle assessment and related design and practice in the UK and Australia, with a particular focus on housing performance and household practices.

HOW TO ENTER

Any designer, architect, or builder can enter homes they have designed and/or built, into the awards. There's no limit to the number of entries you can submit (or different projects)

There are 3 easy steps:

1. Provide your contact details
2. Describe your project
3. Upload your photos and plans

Don't forget that when you describe your project, you'll need to write at least 250 words explaining how the design meets the judging criteria and include at least 6 photos* and a BASIX certificate (or be BASIX compliant in NSW). For example:

• What cladding materials you used, how the materials you chose helped the home's embodied energy, occupant health and site preservation
• How you reduced construction, running, and/or maintenance costs
• How your design is innovative
• How you incorporated lightweight construction

If you are having trouble with the awards entry system at any time, please contact us at (02) 9638 9875 during business hours or email to jared.dawson@jameshardie.com.au

*Important Note: Entries must not include and will be invalid if they include more than 20 images in total (including photographs, elevations, sections, details and plans) or include more than 1000 words of explanatory text.

Too easy!

(By the way — you can even vote for your own project once your entry's published. We're not for a minute suggesting that you try and stack the deck by voting for yourself (although you can) or even getting your friends to (although you could do this too)!