American Academy in Rome Names Rome Prize Fellows

The American Academy in Rome The Villa Aurelia (at right), home of the American Academy in Rome, as seen in an 18th century print by Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Every year, a lucky group of American creative types are tapped to spend six months or more in a 17th-century villa overlooking the heart of Rome. The Rome Prize, as the honor is known, is administered by the American Academy in Rome, an organization founded in part by architect Charles F. McKim of McKim, Mead & White, financier J.P. Morgan, and horse breeder William K. Vanderbilt.

More than a century has passed since the academy was founded, yet the Rome Prize remains one of the most prestigious accolades for architects, designers, artists, and scholars in many fields.

Among this year’s 31 recipients are:

Thomas Kelley, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture;
Catie Newell, founding principal of Alibi Studio and an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College;
Nicholas de Monchaux, architect, critic, and assistant professor of architecture and urban design at the University of California, Berkeley; and
Catherine Wagner, an artist and professor at Mills College.

The complete list of this year's recipients follows: