The Mehdi Ali Mirza Award is named after a person who laid down the foundation of professional architectural practice in a newly emerged country which had less physical and institutional infrastructure. Born to an officer of the forest service in Hyderabad State. Britih India in 1910, Mehdi Ali Mirza was amongst the first generation of formally trained architects in Pakistan.

Mehdi Ali Mirza Awards are conferred by the Institute of Architects Pakistan (IAP) to the top achievers of graduating batches from the schools of Architecture in Pakistan every year. Convened by the Board of Architectural Education IAP, this year the Awards are conferred at Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar.