The U.S. Department of Energy will not hold a BuildingsNEXT competition for the 2025–2026 academic year.
Future programming updates will be posted at www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-technologies-office as they become available.

Richard King Award

Photo of group of people, Solar Decathlon 2013 Team Photo

The Richard King Awards honored the man who founded the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon^® in 2000. Richard directed Solar Decathlon until his retirement from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2015. The first Richard King Award was given to the Solar Decathlon founder at the 2017 Solar Decathlon in Denver, Colorado.

In 2024, the awards were renamed as the Solar Decathlon Faculty and Alumni Awards.