With the introduction of the Two Worlds Community Foundation’s The Arizona Challenge Student Design Competition, longtime respected Valley architect Vernon Swaback aims to inspire the designers of the future.

In 2010, Vernon Swaback, of Scottsdale’s Swaback Partners, a former apprentice under Frank Lloyd Wright and a longtime leader in the Valley’s design and architecture realm, founded the Two Worlds Community Foundation (TWCF) with the intention of advancing “the main pillars of urban sustainability in desert climates.” The nonprofit, year-old Foundation “invites professionals and young individuals to identify and develop the most efficient and healthier relationships between social, cultural environmental and economic sectors in order to envision the next generation of cities.”

In order to inspire students to envision such efficient, self-sustaining communities, TWCF kicked off its first event: The Arizona Challenge Student Design Competition. Via the challenge, students around the globe were invited to create prototypes of revolutionary communities that “push the extremes of design for a more sustainable and healthy way of life.” “The educational joy of [TWCF] is to envision communities of the future as large-scale works of art—as sustainable, inspiring and educational as the beauty and workings of nature,” Swaback says.

Design students—who hail from as near as Arizona and as far at China–excelled at the task and will be honored this Friday, Sept. 16, in a highly anticipated awards ceremony at Arizona State University. Such prestigious locals as Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman will be on hand to help honor the students. Read on for a look at the winning The Arizona Challenge Student Design Competition submissions. The first-place prize is $10,000.