In the 21 years since Waterfront Toronto was established to oversee the revitalization of the city's lakefront, the organization has championed dozens of impressive buildings and spaces.

Waterfront Toronto has led the charge on a transformation that has left the lakefront almost unrecognizable, and it is celebrating its most impressive buildings, projects, and public spaces with the unveiling of its inaugural bi-annual Design Review Panel Awards.

Presented on Thursday, the awards honoured ten projects across seven categories, and were selected with feedback from the Waterfront Design Review Panel (WDRP), which consists of experts from fields including architects, developers, and designers.

"These awards are a chance to recognize the incredible, collaborative work of the DRP and the teams behind each of these projects," said George Zegarac, CEO of Waterfront Toronto. "All of the projects nominated completed the DRP process and each project emerged the better for it. Congratulations to all."

"On behalf of the WDRP, I want to congratulate all of today's nominees and award recipients. In launching these awards, it was clear how much talent, effort, and vision goes into every project, and we're lucky to review and improve such exciting work," said Paul Bedford, chair of the WDRP.

Only projects that completed the design review process or completed construction between 2019-2021 were eligible for the awards' inaugural year, while a separate Hall of Fame Awards recognizes projects built for at least five years.

Here are the first crop of winners:

Canary Landing

Category: Excellence in Residential Design
Criteria: For a market condominium, rental or affordable housing building.

T3 Bayside (Phase 1)

Category: Excellence in Commercial or Institutional Design
Criteria: For a non-residential use building, such as commercial, institutional, or infrastructural.

Port Lands Flood Protection Project

Category: Excellence in Public Landscape Design
Criteria: For a park, streetscape, or other public open space project.

Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard East Public Realm

Category: Excellence in Planning and Urban Design
Criteria: For a precinct plan, master plan, public open space plan, or development plan.

Limberlost Place at George Brown College

Category: Excellence in Design Innovation
Criteria: For a project that addresses environmental, social, or other contemporary issues through design and research.

Cherry Street Stormwater Management Facility

Category: Excellence in Built Work
Criteria: For a completed building, landscape, infrastructure, or neighbourhood that delivers on the original design intent.

River City RC3 + RC4

Category: Excellence in Built Work
Criteria: For a completed building, landscape, infrastructure, or neighbourhood that delivers on the original design intent.

A batch of three Hall of Fame awards were also issued Thursday to recognize some already well-established spaces on the waterfront, including the Harbourfront WaveDecks, Canada's Sugar Beach, and Corktown Common.