Kamin is the recipient of 45 awards. Among his other honors are the George Polk Award for Criticism (1996), the American Institute of Architects' Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement (1999) and the AIA's Presidential Citation, conferred in 2004. In 2013, the Society of Architectural Historians recognized him with an award for excellence in architectural criticism. From 1993 to 2019, he won or shared 16 Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism from the Chicago Headline Club. Kamin also was part of the collaborative team that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence for the "Architectural Record". He has twice served as a Pulitzer Prize juror.