
Current Operations Notice:
- During summer/early fall of 2022, Special Collections and University Archives is open Monday-Friday from 8am to 5pm, with the exception of four summer holidays. We will be closed on May 30, June 20, July 4, and September 5.
- Appointments will not be required, but strongly encouraged (**see below)
- Appointments can be made by visiting the SCUA Seat Reservation page (instructions are included on the page)
- Virtual reference help remains available at specref@vt.edu or by phone at 540-231-6308
- Newman Library hours of operation and those of other University Library branches are also available online
**By making an appointment, you will help us limit the number of researchers using our Reading Room at any one time for health and safety; guarantee you a seat at the requested time; and help us plan for your visit, for example, making sure materials needed are onsite and available.
Milka Bliznakov Research Prize
The 2022 call for submissions can be found here
Contact Donna Dunay with questions about the 2022 prize.
The Milka Bliznakov Research Prize was established in 2001 to honor IAWA founder and advisor emerita, Dr. Milka Bliznakov (1927-2010). The IAWA Center invites architects, scholars, professionals, students, and researchers to contribute research on women in architecture and related design fields. This research, in concert with the preservation efforts of the IAWA, will help fill the current void in historical knowledge about the achievements and work of women who shaped the built environment. The IAWA Center Board of Advisors presents this annual prize for research completed in the IAWA collections.
Past Milka Bliznakov Award and Research Prize Winners (2001-2019)
See the Milka Bliznakov Prize Records for more information
- 2021 Canceled due to pandemic
- 2020 Canceled due to pandemic
- 2019, Eva Alvarez and Carlos Gomez, "Pluralism and Diversity in the Profession - Women Architects Speaking Spanish at the IAWA," and
Daniela Urazán (Student Prize), "The Architecture of Care: Women Architects and Places in Need." - 2018, Alex Bala, "Hanna Adamczewska-Wejchert, a lead designer of the industrial city of Tychy."
- 2017, Dr. Rixt Hoekstra, "Regarding De Stijl through a Gender Perspective: The Work and Life of Han Schröder (1918 -1992)" and
Kirat Kaur Pandher (Student Prize), "Indian Architects: A Proposal for Directed Expansion." - 2016, Dr. Ines Moisset, "Women Architects on the Web" and
Dr. Tanja Poppelreuter, "Refugee and émigré female architects before 1940." - 2015, Claire Bonney Brüllman, "The Work and Life of Adrienne Gorska" and
Sarah Rafson, "CARY (Chicks in Architecture Refuse to Yield)." - 2014, Meredith Sattler, "Early Technological Innovation in the Systems Approach to Environmental Design: Situating Beverly Willis and Associates’ CARLA platform [Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis] within the developmental trajectory of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)."
- 2013, Robert Holton, "Natalie De Blois - The role and contribution in the design of three pivotal SOM projects completed in New York City between 1950-1960: the Lever House, the Pepsi-Cola building and the Union Carbide."
- 2012, Andrea J. Merrett, "Feminism in American Architecture: Organizing 1972-1975."
- 2011, Lindsay Nencheck, "Organizing Voices: Examining the 1974 Women in Architecture Symposium at Washington University in St. Louis."
- 2010, Inge Schaefer Horton, "Early Women Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area."
- 2009, Patrick Lee Lucas, "Sarah Hunter Kelly: Designing the House of Good Taste."
- 2008, Martha Alonso, Sonia Bevilacqua, and Graciela Brandariz, "Odilia Suárez: The Exemplary Trajectory of an Architect and Urbanist in Latin America."
- 2008, Despina Stratigakos, "A Woman’s Berlin."
- 2008, Milka Bliznakov Prize, Commendation, Lori Brown, feminist practices [exhibition].
- 2007, No prize awarded.
- 2006, Milka Bliznakov Prize, Commendation, Eran Ben-Joseph, Holly D. Ben-Joseph and Anne C. Dodge"Against All Odds: MIT's Pioneering Women of Landscape Architecture."
- 2005, Carmen Alonso Espegel, "Heroines of the Space."
- 2005, Isabel Bauer, "Architekturstudentinnen der Weimarer Republik."
- 2005, Bobbye Tigerman, "'I Am Not a Decorator' Florence Knoll, the Knoll Planning Unit, and the Making of the Modern Office."
- 2005, Milka Bliznakov Honorarium, Joseph Chuo Wang.
- 2004, Dorrita Hannah, "un-housing performance: The Heart of PQ."
- 2004, Janet Stoyel, "Sonicloth."
- 2003, Barbara Nadel,"Security Design: Achieving Transparency in Civic Architecture."
- 2003, Ozlem Erkarslan, "Turkish Women Architects in the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Era 1908-1960."
- 2002, Elizabeth Birmingham, "Searching for Marion Mahony: Gender, Erasure, and the Discourse of Architectural Studies."
- 2001, Claire Bonney, "The Work and Life of Adrienne Gorska." View final report here.