KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture and Planning, announces that The American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Intern Development Program (IDP) Advisory Committee has awarded KTGY with the 2008 - 2011 IDP Firm Award. The award honors KTGY for its commitment to providing its interns with mentoring, supervising, and training opportunities and making the path to licensure an integral part of the firm's culture. Winners were recognized at the annual AIA National Convention, held in Boston, MA last month. Recipients maintain their award for three years.

KTGY's IDP coordinator Wil Wong, AIA, principal and designer at KTGY, attributes the success of the firm's IDP to KTGY's focus on professional development, personalized attention, and firm-wide support. "Interns are consistently exposed to both formal and informal individual discussions about their IDP progress," says Wong. "This allows us to tailor our efforts specifically to each intern and provides an environment that is truly conducive to mentorship."

KTGY has been involved with the IDP program since 1995, long before it was required by the AIA in California in 2005. KTGY's in-house program provides interns with the depth and breadth of experience they need to become licensed architects.

"The energy and interaction that comes from having professionals mentor interns has helped the firm and everyone become better at what they do. Interns at KTGY play an active role in all phases of marketing, management, design, documentation, and construction administration. As a result, KTGY has become known as one of the top firms in the West for intern training experience. We currently have 10 interns on staff," says Wong.

The Intern Development Program (IDP) started in 1976 as a pilot program developed by the AIA and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) to ensure the continued support of interns by the changing profession of architecture. IDP is a profession-wide, comprehensive training program that is focused on the professional development of architectural interns. Through a series of required activities, IDP enables participants to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills that form the core competencies related to successful architectural practice. IDP is structured in a way that effectively responds to the training needs of architectural interns by providing a wide range of resources, established progressive benchmarks, advice and mentor guidance throughout the extensive internship process. Completion of the IDP is required for initial licensure in 51 of the 54 jurisdictions of the United States. For more information on the awards program, please visit www.aia.org/idp_outstandingfirm.