Shortlists revealed for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize
The shortlists for two of the most important prizes in architectural history – the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize – have been revealed today.
The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion is awarded to a monograph that makes an outstanding contribution to the study of architectural history – previous winners include Howard Colvin, Dorothy Stroud, John Summerson, Nikolaus Pevsner, Hermione Hobhouse and Jill Lever. The Colvin Prize, established in 2017, is awarded to an outstanding work of reference of value to the discipline irrespective of format.
The two shortlists for the awards this year, which can be found below, demonstrate a broad range of subjects and approaches to architectural history. This year’s selection, following a generous number of nominations, offers a handbook on Chinese architecture; a compendium history of council housing in Britain, several studies of post-conflict rebuilding and aspirations for modern society, both in Britain and Europe; a detailed view of Long Kesh/Maze Prison in Northern Ireland, as working site and cultural symbol, and much more.
The winners will be selected in the autumn and celebrated at the Society’s Annual Awards Ceremony in December 2023.
The awards are overseen by the SAHGB to reward work that is innovative, ambitious and rigorous in tackling histories of the built environment as broadly conceived. The SAHGB’s awards programme, which also includes the ‘Hawksmoor’ Essay Medal, Dissertation Prize, and a Heritage Research Award, a joint venture with the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, is open and inclusive wherever possible, celebrating diversity of approach and recognising work at all career levels.
Please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org.uk for further information.
Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion shortlist
G. A. Bremner, Building Greater Britain: Architecture, Imperialism, and the Edwardian Baroque Revival 1885 - 1920 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Gary A. Boyd, Architecture and the Face of Coal: Mining and Modern Britain (Lund Humphries)
Nicholas Bullock, Modernising Post-War France: Architecture and Urbanism during ‘Les Trente Glorieuses’ (Routledge)
Mark Crinson, Shock City: Image and Architecture in Industrial Manchester (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Louise Purbrick, H Blocks: An Architecture of the Conflict in and about Northern Ireland (Bloomsbury Academic Publishing)
Neal Shasore, Designs on Democracy: Architecture and the Public in Interwar London (Oxford University Press)
Christopher Webster, Late Georgian Churches: Anglican Architecture, Patronage , and Church-Going in England, 1790 – 1840 (John Hudson Publishing)
Colvin Prize shortlist
John Boughton, A History of Council Housing in 100 Estates (RIBA Publishing)
Jiat-Hwee Chang, Justin Zhuang, and Darren Soh (photographer), Everyday Modernism: Architecture and Society in Singapore (National University of Singapore Press)
Jane Grenville, Yorkshire: North Riding (Pevsner Buildings of England series) (Yale University Press)
Editors: Neal Shasore and Jessica Kelly, Reconstruction: Architecture, Society and the Aftermath of the First World War (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Editors: Jianfei Zhu, Chen Wei, Li Hua, Routledge Handbook of Chinese Architecture: Social Production of Buildings and Spaces in History (Routledge)
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion
The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion – awarded since 1959 – is given annually to the author of a literary work that provides an outstanding contribution to the study of architectural history. The work must be by a British author (or authors), or deal with an aspect of the architectural history of the British Isles or the Commonwealth. The award is named after the mother of the American architectural historian Henry Russell-Hitchcock, and the oval medallion takes the form of a Wedgwood portrait of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart. It was presented to the SAHGB general meeting in 1959.
Professor Elizabeth McKellar (President of SAHGB + panel chair);
Judging panel: Dr Louise Durning (University of Oxford); Dr John Goodall (Architectural Editor, Country Life); Professor Iain Jackson (University of Liverpool); Dr Conor Lucey (University College Dublin); Dr Diane Watters (University of Edinburgh/ Historic Environment Scotland).
For further information, including criteria, eligibility and nomination form, please see our Awards page. For a list of previous winners, please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org.uk
The Colvin Prize
The Colvin Prize is awarded annually to the author or authors of an outstanding work of reference that relates to the field of architectural history, broadly conceived. All modes of publication are eligible, including catalogues, gazetteers, digital databases and online resources. It is named in honour of Sir Howard Colvin, a former president of the Society, and one of the most eminent scholars in architectural history of the twentieth century. The prize was inaugurated in 2017; winners receive a commemorative medal designed by contemporary medallist Abigail Burt.
Dr Elizabeth Darling (Chair of SAHGB + panel chair);
Judging panel: Professor Richard Brook (Manchester School of Architecture); Professor Louise Campbell (University of Warwick); Dr Laura Fernández-González (University of Lincoln); Dr. Samantha Martin (University College, Dublin); Professor Simon Pepper (University of Liverpool)
For further information, including criteria, eligibility and nomination form, please see our Awards page. For a list of previous winners, please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org.uk
