2026–27 Rome Prize Winners Announced by American Academy in Rome

The American Academy in Rome (AAR) has announced 31 awardees for the 2026–27 Rome Prize and Italian Fellows Program, chosen from a pool of 958 candidates, resulting in a mere 3.03 percent acceptance rate. These recipients, comprising architects, designers, artists, preservationists, and scholars, will spend five to ten months at AAR’s historic Roman site, originally designed by McKim, Meade, and White, beginning in September. Notable architecture winners include Neeraj Bhatia of The Open Workshop and Jess Myers from Syracuse University. In historic preservation, Erica Avrami (Columbia GSAAP) and Ariel O'Connor (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art) received honors. Landscape architecture accolades went to Caroline Lavoie (Utah State University) and Daví Parente Schoen (CMG Landscape Architecture). The jury, led by Dorothée Imbert (Knowlton School, Ohio State University), also featured members like Leena Cho and Ilaria Puri Purini (AAR director). The Rome Prize celebrates thirteen fields, including music, architecture, and literature.