TCLF Establishes International Landscape Architecture Prize

The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a non-profit Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy organization, recently announced that it will establish an international landscape architecture prize to be conferred biennially. The foundation says it's the first and only international landscape architecture prize that includes a $100,000 monetary award.

According to the organization, the prize also features two years of related public engagement activities to honor a living practitioner, collaborative or team for their work in the field of landscape architecture.

TCLF board co-chair Joan Shafran, and her husband Rob Haimes provided a lead gift of $1 million to underwrite the prize, which was matched by the rest of the board and other donors, launching a $4.5 million fundraising campaign.

"Landscape architecture is one of the most complex and, arguably, the least understood art forms. It challenges practitioners to be design innovators often while spanning the arts and sciences in addressing many of the most pressing social, environmental, and cultural issues in contemporary society," said Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, TCLF's founder, president, and CEO. "We are grateful for the leadership provided by Joan Shafran and Rob Haimes in supporting this prize, which aims to raise the visibility of the field and its practitioners."

TCLF's honoree will be chosen in a multi-layered, year-long nomination period, which will be followed with selection by a five-person jury comprised of internationally prominent landscape architects, artists, educators, designers and others.

The inaugural prize will be awarded in 2021.