Awards + Medals
Celebrating the art, architecture, and activism that deepens our understanding of the city and enriches the lives of New Yorkers.
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.
Kathryn & Kenneth Chenault
Audrey & Danny Meyer
In June, we presented the 2018 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, the Municipal Art Society’s highest honor, to four extraordinary New Yorkers and celebrated their legacy of vision, leadership, and philanthropy.
Learn MoreThe 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.
Melissa Rachleff, Inventing Downtown: Artist–Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965
Julia Wertz, Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York
Selected each year by our esteemed jury, the MASterworks Awards pay tribute to projects that make a significant contribution to New York City’s built environment. From some of the city’s most iconic buildings to inconspicuous local gems, our list of past winners includes the likes of New Lab, the Fulton Center, McCarren Pool, TKTS Booth, the High Bridge, and the Museum at Eldridge Street.
The 2019 call for nominations is open through Tuesday, January 15, 2019. All nominated projects must be located in New York City and have been substantially completed in 2018.
Winning projects will be presented with awards at MAS’s annual awards ceremony, Celebrating the City, which will take place in spring 2019.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse – Best New Building
Tenement Museum – Best Restoration
Empire Stores – Best Adaptive Reuse
Kew Gardens Hills Library – Best New Urban Amenity
Moynihan Train Hall and Farley Building Redevelopment Phase 1: New West End Concourse – Best New Infrastructure
Gowanus Canal Sponge Park – Best Urban Landscape
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.
2016
Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
Mr. PK Das, a Mumbai-based architect and activist
2013
Bette Midler, Entertainer and Founder, New York Restoration Project
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