Columbus has no shortage of old buildings with new life, from restored homes in the historic districts to former mills turned into apartments and offices. Now the state's leading preservation group wants to hear about them.

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is accepting nominations for its 2027 Preservation Awards, which honor the best historic preservation projects and people in the state. The deadline is Monday, Dec. 7, 2026.

Who can be nominated

The awards are open to projects finished within the last three years. Projects are judged on what they've contributed to their community or the state, and on whether the work follows the federal government's standards for treating historic properties (the Secretary of the Interior's Standards).

There are six award categories:

• Excellence in Rehabilitation: giving a historic building a new use through repairs, alterations or additions, while keeping the features that make it historic
• Excellence in Sustainable Rehabilitation: a rehabilitation that also makes the building more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly without losing its historic character
• Excellence in Restoration: returning a building to how it looked at a specific point in its history, while quietly updating systems like heating, plumbing and wiring
• Excellence in Preservation: caring for historic places as they are, or creatively interpreting a historic site for visitors
• Excellence in Stewardship: protecting a historic property over the long haul through maintenance, stabilization or generations of family ownership
• Preservation Service: people, groups, businesses or government agencies that have done outstanding work promoting historic preservation

That last category means you don't need a building to be nominated. A neighborhood volunteer, a local business owner or a city department could qualify.

How to nominate

Nomination forms are available at georgiatrust.org/our-programs/preservation-awards. Submit them by Dec. 7.

Winners will be announced in April 2027 and honored at The Georgia Trust's Spring Ramble in Savannah, April 23-25, 2027. Nominators and winners will be notified several weeks before the ceremony.

A strong Columbus track record

Columbus has been recognized by the Trust before. In 2025, Historic Columbus received the Trust's Mark C. McDonald Award. The award honors an organization with a sustained commitment to historic preservation and a positive impact on its local community. Columbus also hosted the Trust's statewide awards ceremony in 2018.

The Trust's annual "Places in Peril" list, which spotlights endangered historic sites, has also included Columbus landmarks. Two examples are the Claflin School, founded after the Civil War to educate Black children in Columbus, and the historic Columbus YMCA building, a 1903 marble building believed to be the only marble YMCA in the country.

Need help with a nomination? Historic Columbus, the city's preservation nonprofit, works with property owners and neighborhoods across the city.

Historic Columbus 1440 Second Ave., Columbus, GA 31901 706-322-0756 historiccolumbus.com

About The Georgia Trust

Founded in 1973, The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is one of the country's leading statewide nonprofit preservation groups. It buys endangered historic properties and finds buyers who will save them, publishes the yearly "Places in Peril" list, offers preservation grants and help for property owners, and runs two house museums: Rhodes Hall in Atlanta and the Hay House in Macon.