2017 AIA National Young Architect Award

For almost the last three months, I’ve had to keep the hardest secret. In early December, I got an email saying I’d won the 2017 AIA National Young Architect Award and could only tell family, sponsors, and close friends. Hilariously, last night I found out my sister had been telling everyone she could in Sacramento. I laughed and blushed at her sisterly pride. On my end, I was sticking to the request of silence, but I don’t have to anymore! The press release comes out today! AND it’s my birthday!

Best. Birthday gift. Ever.

I know the AIA National Young Architect Award is a prestigious thing. I feel honored and humbled to be among those who have received it. But outside of my intense submission, and those I’ve interacted with in volunteer capacities, I didn’t know much about it, so I decided to look at the award by the numbers. Fun fact, this is the award’s 25th anniversary.

In 25 years, the AIA National Young Architect Award has been bestowed upon 188 people across 36 states. 53 of them have been female, at a rate of 30% (it’s gotten increasingly better in past years). Because I’m an architect, I made this into a visual. You’re welcome.

To get even more nerdy, I researched how many of these awardees (so far) have gone onto become elected into the College of Fellows. Of the 188, 38 have – 20%. Of the 38 Fellows, 13 are women – 34%.

Of ALL of the past recipients, the only to also become AIA National President…was also a female: Elizabeth Chu Richter. I had the honor of meeting her at the very first AIA National Convention I attended in Chicago.

So the correlation is that women who receive the AIA National Young Architect Award are more likely to become a Fellow and perform in leadership roles in general…?

That means I have big shoes to fill. That thought changes my emotions from excitement to dogged determination to not let the other women before me down. My guess is those women had the same determination…and that similar personality trait helped us all individually perform in such a way that merited this award.

I’m also the first female in Indiana to win this award. This isn’t a new concept for me; the difference is simply that in the past, these “first” came in the world of sports. In high school, I played on the Men’s varsity soccer team and then petitioned for a Women’s team – coaching and playing to lead the team to a 13-1-1 record our first season. I was also the first female to pole vault in an IHSAA State meet.

What does this AIA National Young Architect Award mean for you?

It means rejuvenated effort to help you guys succeed. As the last paragraph shows, barriers mean little to me. But I want to help keep creating a world of architecture where we each, individually, work together to create the best built environment for our current and future humans. It means having hard conversations – and using this platform to do so. It means sharing my own personal experiences of setbacks to hopefully prevent them from happening to you but supporting you through them if they do. It means cheering you on through your struggles or connecting you with resources to prevail.

It means more blogs, more sketches, more talks, more sharing. It means more learning and doing and failing (though hopefully less of that). It means more asking questions and reading. More, more more, more…

This is not the end. This is the beginning.

Thanks for being with me thus far. Let’s start the next chapter of this journey.