Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Milka Bliznakov Prize Records must be obtained from the Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Milka Bliznakov Prize Records, Ms2001-045, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Milka Bliznakov Prize Records were donated to the International Archive of Women in Architecture at the Special Collections. Accruals are ongoing.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement and description of the Milka Bliznakov Prize Records took place in 2001. The records were reprocessed and described to include additions in August 2005, September 2006, January 2012, March 2013, and 2016.

Historical Information

The Milka Bliznakov Prize, established in 1998, is named in honor of the founder of the International Archive of Women in Architecture, architect and Virginia Tech Professor Emerita Milka Bliznakov. The prize is conferred in recognition of research that advances knowledge of women's contributions to architecture and related design fields, and was created to encourage the use and growth of the IAWA. The prize winner is determined in a two stage process. In Stage One, applicants register their proposal, which outlines the work they plan to complete within the coming year. Stage Two occurs the following year, when applicants submit their completed projects. The winner of the prize is selected from among these projects. In 2011, for the 11th Annual Prize, the prize committee altered the guidelines to include the stipulation that a portion of the research for the project must use IAWA collections and renamed the award The Milka Bliznakov Research Prize. The awarding of the prize still occurs in a two stage process. In Stage One, applicants submit their proposal, which outlines the research they plan to conduct at the IAWA repository housed in Virginia Tech's Special Collections, a proposed schedule for residency to include a open presentation on their research, and a description of the product they plan to produce (e.g. research paper, book, visual or physical original work). The winner of the prize is selected from among these proposals. In stage two, the Prize winner conducts their research at Virginia Tech's Special Collections library and submits their project for inclusion in the IAWA collections by December of that year.

Milka Bliznakov Award and Research Prize Winners

2001, Claire Bonney, "The Work and Life of Adrienne Gorska".

2002, Elizabeth Birmingham, "Searching for Marion Mahony: Gender, Erasure, and the Discourse of Architectural Studies".

2003, Barbara Nadel,"Security Design: Achieving Transparency in Civic Architecture" and Ozlem Erkarslan, "Turkish Women Architects in the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Era 1908-1960."

2004, Dorrita Hannah, "un-housing performance: The Heart of PQ" and Janet Stoyel, "Sonicloth".

2005, Carmen Alonso Espegel, "Heroines of the Space", Isabel Bauer, "Architekturstudentinnen der Weimarer Republik", and 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.

2006, Milka Bliznakov Prize, Commendation, "Against All Odds: MIT's Pioneering Women of Landscape Architecture" by Eran Ben-Joseph, Holly D. Ben-Joseph and Anne C. Dodge.

2007, No prize awarded.

2008, Martha Alonso, Sonia Bevilacqua, and Graciela Brandariz, "Odilia Suárez: The Exemplary Trajectory of an Architect and Urbanist in Latin America " and Despina Stratigakos, "A Woman's Berlin "

2008, Milka Bliznakov Prize, Commendation, Lori Brown, feminist practices [exhibition].

2009, Patrick Lee Lucan, "Sarah Hunter Kelly: Designing the House of Good Taste".

2010, Inge Schaefer Horton, "Early Women Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area ".

2011, Lindsay Nencheck, "Organizing Voices: Examining the 1974 Women in Architecture Symposium at Washington University in St. Louis".

2012, Andrea J. Merrett, "Feminism in American Architecture: Organizing: 1972-1975 ".

Scope and Content

The collection consists of yearly information and announcements about the Milka Bliznakov Prize and research proposal submissions. This prize is awarded annually and more records are expected at a later date.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged chronologically by year of submission. Information is divided into award announcements, which advertise the award and announce winners at various stages, proposal submissions, and original works of research.

Related Material

Additional information about the Milka Bliznakov Prize is available through links on the IAWA home page.

The IAWA Records, Ms1985-021, and the papers of Milka Bliznakov, Ms1991-025, are both housed with the IAWA and are on the IAWA Guide to the Collections.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Alonso, Carmen Espegel
• Alonso, Martha
• Bauer, Isabel
• Ben-Joseph, Eran
• Ben-Joseph, Holly D.
• Bevilacqua, Sonia
• Bliznakov, Milka T., 1927-2010
• Brandariz, Graciela
• Brown, Lori
• Dodge, Anne C.
• Hannah, Dorrita
• Horton, Inge S.
• Lucas, Patrick Lee
• Stoyel, Janet
• Stratigakus, Despina
• Tigerman, Bobbye
• Wang, Joseph Chuo

Subjects:

• History of Women in Architecture
• International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA)
• Milka Bliznakov Prize
• Women -- History

Adjunct Descriptive Data