As all eyes turned to Rio de Janeiro this month for the Summer Olympics, our August issue of Healthcare Design, coincidentally, also turned the spotlight to both sports and the thrill of competition.

Sports are a big deal in America. (Just ask Jennifer, Shandi, and Becky, the part of our editorial team that’s based in Cleveland.) They’re big business, too, and the timing is perfect for the healthcare industry to capitalize on that fact. As Jennifer Silvis writes in her trend report on the topic (“Whole in One"), needs for injury care, rehab, and performance-enhancing health strategies are sending everyone from weekend warriors to professional athletes to their doctors on a regular basis. And what about the children? There are 30 million of them across the nation participating in organized sports ever year.

Many healthcare systems are setting their sights on the sports medicine market, not only because it’s a lucrative new revenue stream but because it dovetails so well with current mandates to serve population health and promote wellness. These unique environments for healthcare face their own challenges—but the way design can address those challenges is interesting and informative for other care spaces, as well.

The chance to see what practical problems design can solve for all different specialties is one of the main reasons we bring you the Healthcare Design Showcase every year. Whether you’re working on a big-footprint acute care hospital or a small behavioral health clinic or anything else in between, the Showcase provides photos and design details for dozens of recent projects.

The August issue features coverage of this year’s entrants, six of which ascended the virtual podium for Awards of Merit (two projects) and Honorable Mentions (four). You’ll also get a peek inside the judging process, as Anne DiNardo teases out the triumphs, disappointments, and trends observed by the jury members as they combed through all of the submissions (“Making a Statement"). There’s no agony of defeat, here, though: All 55 of the entries in this year’s Showcase were accepted for publication. That’s a rare occurrence—our juries take their jobs seriously—and it speaks to the quality of the work being done in our industry. Now, that’s a win.