Awards + Medals

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (JKO) Medal is awarded annually to individuals and organizations that have made an extraordinary impact on the quality of New York’s built environment. The award was established in 1994 to honor Mrs. Kennedy Onassis and her passionate efforts to preserve great architecture in New York City.

The Brendan Gill Prize is given each year to the creator of a specific work—a book, essay, musical composition, play, painting, sculpture, architectural design, film, or choreographic piece—that best captures the spirit and energy of New York City.

The prize was established in 1987 in honor of Brendan Gill by friend and fellow MAS board member Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis along with board members Helen Tucker and Margot Wellington.

The winner of the 2020 Brendan Gill Prize is composer Julia Wolfe for her magnificent oratorio, Fire in my mouth, a hauntingly beautiful retelling of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Regretfully, our annual awards reception, Celebrating the City, has been postponed in response to concerns about coronavirus. We hope to announce a new date soon.

Established in 2001, the MASterworks Awards pay tribute each year to projects that make a significant contribution to New York City’s built environment. Selected each year by an esteemed jury, past honored projects have included some of the city’s most iconic buildings to its hidden gems, such as the likes of Roberto Clemente State Park, Sunset Park Interim Library, Weeksville Heritage Center, Pier 35, Manhattan District 1/2/5 Garage & Salt Shed, McCarren Pool and Bathhouse, Queens Museum, and many more.

Nominations for the 2021 MASterworks Awards closed on June 30, 2021. Winning projects will be notified following a jury meeting in August. Stay tuned for details on the MASterworks Awards ceremony that will take place in the fall.

Eligible projects must be located in New York City and have been completed in 2020. Projects can be nominated in up to two of the following categories:

• Best New Building for outstanding architectural design
• Best Urban Landscape for a new or revitalized open space that contributes to livability and resilience
• Best Restoration for a project that expertly enhances the original qualities of a significant historic building or structure
• Best Adaptive Reuse for a project that demonstrates exceptional creativity in adaptive reuse of an existing building or structure
• Best New Infrastructure for distinctive design in public service projects
• Best New Urban Amenity for an addition to the built environment that contributes to a more livable city.

NOTE: Special consideration will be made for projects that have responded to the needs of New Yorkers during COVID-19.

The Jane Jacobs Medal is awarded annually to individuals whose work creates new ways of seeing and understanding New York City, challenges traditional assumptions, and creatively uses the urban environment to make New York City a place of hope and expectation. The Rockefeller Foundation awards the medal. It is administered by MAS through a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The award was created in 2007.