Nominate
Someone you know belongs in the class.
Nominations are how the field widens. Read why we ask before you fill anything in — the reasoning matters more than the form.
Why we ask
No editorial team sees a whole city. Nominations are how the archive stays honest about that.
The most interesting practices in Chicago are rarely the loudest. They surface through the people who work alongside them — the collaborator who watched a project get built, the client who saw the process, the neighbor who has followed the work for years.
So we ask you to tell us what you have seen. A nomination is not a vote, and volume does not decide anything. What moves a name forward is a specific account of the work and why it matters here.
How selection works
Nominations are community powered. Final selections are editorially curated. Every submission is read and researched; the class itself is decided by the editors in a single room, using one standard for everyone.
The Nomination
Nominations for Volume Two open August 19 and close September 1, 2026.