The Rudy Bruner Award recognizes one Gold Medal Winner and four Silver Medal winners in each biennial cycle. The Gold Medal Winner is awarded $50,000, and each Silver Medalist $10,000. The Rudy Bruner Award is distinguished from other award programs by its broad eligibility criteria, the multi-disciplinary Selection Committee, and the detailed on-site evaluation of each finalist. Each award cycle is documented in a book that includes in-depth case studies of the winners and a distillation of the Selection Committee discussion. The publications are available online, or from the Bruner Foundation.

The Foundation does not restrict the kinds of projects that may apply. Urban excellence is a dynamic and changing concept, and the Award process is enriched by a diversity of applications. Rudy Bruner Award winners are not selected through an established set of criteria. Rather, the issues emerge from the Selection Committee discussion of the applications. It is incumbent upon each applicant to characterize the essential elements of urban excellence found in the submission, and to identify the most significant elements for consideration.

Each Selection Committee includes the mayor of a major metropolitan area, and other urban experts from across the country such as architects, planners, developers, financiers, writers, community activists and others who know and understand cities. The Selection Committee discussion is a national forum for exploring the nature of urban excellence. The Award and its publications bring these discussions to the public domain, and make new models of urban placemaking widely available.

Each Selection Committee includes the mayor of a large city, and other urban experts from across the country, such as architects, planners, developers, financiers, writers, community activists and others who know and understand cities. The Selection Committee discussion is a national forum for exploring the nature of urban excellence. The Award and its publications bring these discussions to the public domain, and make new models of urban placemaking widely available.