Shortlists revealed for the 2025 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 British 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 this year demonstrate a broad range of subjects and approaches to architectural history. The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion shortlist includes studies that span both time and geography. Among them are Paul Binski’s Architecture and Affect in the Middle Ages, a richly argued exploration of emotion and symbolism in medieval architecture, and André Tavares’ Architecture Follows Fish, an inventive study tracing architectural development along North Atlantic fishing routes.
The Colvin Prize shortlist is similarly wide-ranging. Highlights include Dana Arnold’s Women and Architectural History: The Monstrous Regiment Then and Now, a critical reflection on gender and historiography, and Leila M. Farah and Samantha L. Martin’s Mobs and Microbes, which offers a global perspective on the relationship between market halls, civic order, and public health.
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, Heritage Research Award and Dissertation Prize, is open and inclusive wherever possible, celebrating diversity of approach and recognising work at all career levels.
Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion Shortlist:
Paul Binski, Architecture and Affect in the Middle Ages (University of California Press)
Richard Brook, The renewal of post-war Manchester: Planning, Architecture and the State (Manchester University Press)
Christopher Cowell, Form Follows Fever: Malaria and Construction of Hong Kong 1841-1849 (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press)
Fiona Smyth, Pistols in St Paul's: Science, music, and architecture in the twentieth century (Manchester University Press)
André Tavares, Architecture Follows Fish: An Amphibious History of the North Atlantic (The MIT Press)
Simona Valeriani, The Royal Albert Hall: Building the Arts and Sciences (Brepols)
Colvin Prize Shortlist:
Orsina Simona Pierini, Carmen Espegel, Dick van Gameren and Mark Swenarton, Housing Atlas: Europe - 20th Century (Lund Humphries)
Guy P. R. Métraux, Ancient Roman Villas: The Essential Sourcebook (J. Paul Getty)
Tania Sengupta and Stuart King, Reclaiming Colonial Architecture (RIBA Publishing
Dana Arnold, Women and Architectural History: The Monstrous Regiment Then and Now (Routledge)
Leila M. Farah and Samantha L. Martin, Mobs and Microbes. Global Perspectives on Market Halls, Civic Order and Public Health (Leuven University Press)
The winners will be selected in the autumn and announced at the Society’s Annual Lecture and Awards Ceremony in December 2025.
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 medallion consists of a Wedgwood portrait of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart. It was presented to the SAHGB general meeting in 1959.
Judging panel: Professor Elizabeth McKellar (President, SAHGB) (Chair); Dr Zoë Opacic (Birkbeck); Professor Florian Urban (Glasgow School of Art); Dr Patrick Zamarian (University of Liverpool); Professor Gary Boyd (University College Dublin); Professor Hilary Grainger (UAL, London).
For further information, including criteria, eligibility, and previous winners.
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.
Judging panel: Dr Alistair Fair (Trustee of SAHGB) (Judging Panel Chair); Sarah Akigbogun (Studio Aki Architects); Helen Iball (Birmingham City University); Dr Kate Jordan (University of Westminster); Professor Adam Sharr (University of Newcastle); Dr Matthew Wells (University of Manchester).
For further information, including criteria, eligibility and previous winners.
About Us
The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain brings together all those with an interest in the history of the built environment – academics, architects, heritage experts and the wider public. As the leading body in the field, we believe that appreciation of architectural history plays a vital role in understanding our culture, past and present. With the help of our members, we publish new research, organise a broad range of events, provide educational opportunities and advance the understanding of the built histories of all periods and places, in Britain and beyond.
Please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org.uk for further information.
