Award Announcement

Fort Lauderdale – October 13, 2026 -- A Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture team has won the £10,000 2026 GROHE Water Prize for terracotta facade tiles that capture fog up to 400% more efficiently than standard flat surfaces.

The award, presented by GROHE for the World Architecture Festival (WAF), went to the project "Bio-inspired Architectural Terracotta for Sustainable Water Harvesting." The team is led by Associate Professor and Lead Researcher Laura Garófalo. WAF is scheduled for November 18-20 in Fort Lauderdale.

Modular terracotta tiles pair water-attracting peaks with water-repelling channels

The system combines ceramic craftsmanship with digital fabrication and surface physics. Its design draws on leaf venation and the Namib Desert beetle. Each tile combines hydrophilic clay peaks with hydrophobic glazed channels. The project targets community water self-sufficiency in arid, fog-prone regions.

LONDON – October 13, 2026 -- Chris Graham, founder of London-based real estate consultancy Graham Associates, has won the Industry Icon award at the inaugural Global Branded Residence Awards, decided by public vote.

Award honours lasting contribution to branded residences sector

The Industry Icon category recognises an individual whose work has shaped the branded residences sector, influenced its development and raised industry standards. Graham's win reflects two decades in luxury real estate and his role in the sector's growth.

Graham authored two of the sector's leading reports

Graham founded Graham Associates, a real estate marketing consultancy, in 2008. He is the author of 'Branded Residences: An Overview', now in its 6th edition, and 'The Branded Residences Compendium', a listing of more than 250 brands active in the market. He is also a regular industry commentator and speaker.

New York – September 24, 2026 -- XPRIZE awarded $4.55 million to innovators across two tracks of its $11 million XPRIZE Wildfire competition, recognizing breakthroughs in space-based detection and autonomous suppression technologies during a ceremony at the New York City Fire Museum.

Space-based detection track distributes $1.05 million across five teams

SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance took first place with $500,000 for integrating SAR and optical satellite data to characterize fires and model spread. Team Snuffed earned $250,000 for a probabilistic data-fusion framework built for firefighter usability. MyRadar, DeepFire and Mayday.AI each received $100,000 special recognition awards for commercial viability, operational fire-spread alerts, and repurposed volcanic-ash detection algorithms applied to smoke plumes, respectively.

Alexandria – September 18, 2026 -- The American Staffing Association (ASA) named Dr. Aline Milfort, a licensed school psychologist with National Recruiting Consultants (NRC), its 2027 National Staffing Employee of the Year, kicking off National Staffing Employee Week, Sept. 14-20.

ASA recognizes millions of temporary and contract workers placed annually across U.S. staffing agencies

The award, sponsored by StaffPro 3, a division of PMC Insurance Group, spotlights Dr. Milfort's work serving 10 campuses across North Houston, Texas. Since joining NRC in 2023 after earning her doctor of psychology degree in 2022, she has provided special education support through a contract role with Aldine Independent School District.

San Francisco – September 15, 2026 -- The Globee® Awards has opened nominations for the 18th Annual Globee® Awards for Innovation, also known as the Golden Bridge Awards®, seeking organizations and professionals that have applied artificial intelligence to produce measurable business results.

Program targets AI achievements across enterprise functions

The awards accept submissions covering generative AI, AI agents, enterprise AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation, alongside sector-specific applications in healthcare, cybersecurity, financial services, manufacturing, and research. Categories also extend to customer experience, data and analytics, accessibility, employee enablement, decision support, and product and service innovation.