A Brief Look at the Award and Its Jury

The Pritzker Prize, sometimes called the Nobel of architecture, was established by the Hyatt Foundation in 1979.

The idea is to reward a living architect whose work demonstrates a combination of talent, vision, and commitment to the art of architecture, according to the Pritzker statement of purpose.

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business and philanthropic interests are headquartered in Chicago. Jay Pritzker is president of the Hyatt Foundation, and because of the many hotels his company has built around the world, he takes a special interest in architecture.

Laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize receive a $100,000 grant, a formal citation, and a bronze medallion.

The nomination process is open, with recommendations accepted from any country, from government officials, writers, critics, academicians, fellow architects, and others.

The final selection is made by an international jury, whose deliberations and voting are kept secret.

The present jury consists of J. Carter Brown, director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington; Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat of Torino, Italy; Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and architectural critic; Toshio Nakamura, editor-in-chief of the architectural periodical A+U published in Japan; Frank O. Gehry, Los Angeles-based architect; Charles Correa, architect from Bombay; and Lord Rothschild, chairman of the board of trustees of the National Gallery in London.