New Landscape Architecture Prize the First of its Kind

The Cultural landscape Foundation will offer $100,000 to the winner of a biennial landscape architecture prize, according to a press release.

In addition to the cash prize, "the Prize features two years of related public engagement activities to honor a living practitioner, collaborative or team for their creative, courageous, and visionary work in the field of landscape architecture," according to the release.

The $100,000 prize is made possible by a donation from TCLF board co-chair Joan Shafran and her husband Rob Haimes. The lead gift of US$1 million to underwrite the Prize was collectively matched by the rest of the board and other donors, launching a US$4.5 million fundraising campaign to endow the prize in perpetuity. 

The first prize will be awarded in 2021, with a prize committee already appointed to select the inaugural prize winner. "The Prize will examine the state of landscape architecture through the honoree’s practice, showcasing how landscape architecture and its practitioners are transforming the public realm by addressing social, ecological, cultural, environmental, and other challenges in their work," according to the release.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has also launched a website in connection with the announcement, sharing the press release along with a number of other pages to provide more background on the prize and its raison d'être. There's even a page that imagines who might have won the prize if it had existed 50 years ago.