The named award is given to the work adjudicated to be the most significant for the advancement of public architecture in that year.

Originally the award was offered for 'non–residential buildings' with winning and commended projects including a wide array of building types including; cultural, education, health, transport, sports facilities, tourism, infrastructure, religion, justice, correctional facilities, war memorials, public administration, commercial buildings and a fountain.

Projects in this awards category must be predominantly of a public or institutional nature and generally fall within Building Code of Australia (BCA) Class 9, excluding projects within the definition of 'Educational Architecture or any BCA Class 9b building used primarily for educational purposes'.

[3] The named award recognises Sir Zelman Cowen, a 1953 Fulbright Senior Scholar in Law from the University of Melbourne and Harvard University, a prominent legal scholar and university administrator, and later the 19th Governor General of Australia (1977—1982) at the time of the inception of the new national RAIA awards that were established in 1981.

[4] The first ten years of the Sir Zelman Cowen Award saw a wide distribution of winners by location with three winners in the Australian Capital Territory, three in Queensland, two in Victoria and one each in Northern Territory and Western Australia.