The American Academy in Rome announces 2023–24 Rome Prize Winners and Italian Fellows

The American Academy in Rome has announced 36 artists and academics as winners of the 2023–24 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships. The prize comes with a stipend and all-expense paid stay at the Academy’s Janiculum Hill campus, along with some much-needed “time and space to think and work” for those working and researching independently in the arts and humanities.

Mark Robbins, the President and CEO of the Academy, said: “Their fellowship experience, living and working in a multidisciplinary community in Rome, has an enduring impact individually and on the wider intellectual and cultural sphere.”

The Academy shares that this year’s cohort was the most diverse in program history, with more than 50% identifying as persons of color. Winners are selected across eleven disciplines and will be honored as part of a special awards ceremony held today, April 24th, from the Cooper Union in New York City. 

Scroll down to read more about the winners in related architecture and design categories. 

ARCHITECTURE

Arnold W. Brunner/Frances Barker Tracy/Katherine Edwards Gordon Rome Prize - César A. Lopez (Citizenry Actions)

Lopez is an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico and was recently named a 2023 Architectural Education Award winner by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

Lily Auchincloss Rome Prize - Ajay Manthripragada (Imbrex and Tegula)

Manthripragada currently teaches at the Harvard GSD and has taught at RISD, CalArts, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in addition to his work as an independent practitioner. 

DESIGN

Rolland Rome Prize - David Weeks (Movable Beasts)

Weeks is a distinguished lighting designer who runs his Brooklyn-based studio, David Weeks Design. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize - Elizabeth Whelan (Silk in the Alchemy of History)

Whelan is the principal of Elizabeth Whelan Design, based in Brooklyn, Maine. Her studio practice is a "product-first, research and development-driven textile design studio."

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Garden Club of America/Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize - Miranda E. Mote (Botanography and Botanic Gardens: The Italian Art of Nature Printing and Its Influence on Early American Gardens and Botanical Language)

Mote is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute's School of Architecture and a lecturer in the Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania's College of Arts and Sciences.

Gilmore D. Clarke and Michael Rapuano/Kate Lancaster Brewster Rome Prize - Lauren Stimson (Seeing Rural: Embracing Art, Craft, and Slowness in the Italian Landscape)

Stimson is currently a Principal at the Princeton, Massachusetts-based landscape firm STIMSON.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION

Adele Chatfield-Taylor Rome Prize - Aaron Cayer (Building Legitimacy: Designing, Disseminating, and Preserving a New Religion) 

Cayer is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of New Mexico.

Suzanne Deal Booth Rome Prize - Emily B. Frank (Object Agency and Intervention in Roman Art )

Rank is Ph.D. Candidate at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. She received an M.S. in Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works, an MA in History of Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU and an MA in Principles of Conservation from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.

ITALIAN FELLOWS

Enel Foundation Italian Fellow in Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture - Sabrina Morreale (Roman Foraging: Spontaneous Convivial Acts within the Edgelands) 

Morreale is the co-founder of Lemonot Studio and currently works as a Studio Master at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London. 

Explore the full list of 2023 - 2024 winners here.