Each year at commencement, the Harvard Graduate School of Design confers awards on graduating students who demonstrate exceptional scholarly achievement, leadership, and service. Congratulations to the student award recipients, and to all 2026 graduates for your tremendous accomplishments.

Prize-Winning Projects & Theses

School Awards

Gerald M. McCue Medal

The Gerald M. McCue Medal is awarded each year to the student graduating from one of the school’s post-professional degree programs who has achieved the highest overall academic record.

• Joseph Akira Fujinami (MArch ’26)

Digital Design Prize

The Digital Design Prize is presented by the Graduate School of Design to the students who have demonstrated the most imaginative and creative use of computer graphics in relation to the design professions.

• Zachary Slonsky (MArch ’26 )

Peter Rice Prize

The Peter Rice Prize honors students of exceptional promise in the school’s architecture and advanced degree programs who have proven their competence and innovation in advancing architecture and structural engineering.

• Htet Htet Hlaing (MArch ’26)

 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize

The Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize recognizes the top team or individual for a viable real estate project completed as part of the GSD curriculum that best demonstrates feasibility in design, construction, economics, and in fulfillment of market and user needs.

• 1st Prize: Maurice El Helou   (MUP/MDes ’27)
• 1st Prize: Oskar Haushofer (MArch ’27)
• 1st Prize: Michael Kurt Mayer (MArch ’27)

• 2nd Prize: Joseph Akira Fujinami (MArch ’26)
• 2nd Prize: Phil Kim (MRE ’26)
• 2nd Prize: Enrique Tomás Lozano (MAUD ’26)
• 2nd Prize: Benjamin Perla (MUP ’26)
• 2nd Prize: Saivi Nandan Shah (MAUD ’26)
• 2nd Prize: Phil Smith (MRE ’26)
• 2nd Prize: Nisreen Tarbell (MAUD ’27)

• Honorable Mention: Richard Bempong (MUP/MPA ’26)
• Honorable Mention: Joseph Donaher (MArch ’27)
• Honorable Mention: Martha Oloo (MLA ’27)
• Honorable Mention: Nana Aba Aprewa Tuckson (MArch ’26)
• Honorable Mention: Chukwubuikem Joshua Udemba (MAUD ’26)

Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship

Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowships are awarded to Harvard graduate students for one academic year of travel, study, and/or research outside the United States.

• Maria Begoña Peiro Salvador (DDes ’26)
• Juncheng Yang (DDes ’26)

Architecture Awards

American Institute of Architects Medal

The American Institute of Architects Medal is awarded to a professional degree student in the Master in Architecture graduating class who has achieved the highest level of excellence in overall scholarship throughout the course of their studies.

• Ann Tanaka (MArch ’26)

Alpha Rho Chi Medal

The Alpha Rho Chi Medal is awarded to the graduating student who has achieved the best general record of leadership and service to the department and who gives promise of professional merit through their character.

• Connor Alexander Merritt (MArch ’26)

James Templeton Kelley Prize

The James Templeton Kelley Prize recognizes the best final design project submitted by a graduating student in the architecture degree programs.

• MArch I: Maggie Anabelle Martin (MArch ’26)
• MArch II: Ella Claire Larkin (MArch ’26)

Julia Amory Appleton Traveling Fellowship in Architecture

The Julia Amory Appleton Traveling Fellowship is given to a student in the Department of Architecture on the basis of academic achievement as well as the worthiness of the project to be undertaken.

• Sophia Lee (MArch ’26)

Kevin V. Kieran Prize

The Kevin V. Kieran Prize recognizes the highest level of academic achievement among students graduating from the post-professional Master in Architecture program.

• Marguerite Gray Kroening (MArch ’26)

Dept. of Architecture Faculty Design Award

The Department of Architecture Faculty Design Award was established by the faculty of the Department of Architecture with the aim of recognizing significant achievement within a body of design work completed by a student at the GSD. This award is given to graduating students from each of the department’s two program.

• Yupeng Gao (MArch ’26)
• Peihao Jin (MArch ’26)

Dept. of Architecture Certificate of Academic Excellence

The Department of Architecture Certificate of Academic Excellence is awarded by the faculty of the Department of Architecture to a graduate of the professional degree program in architecture (MArch I) in recognition of their academic achievement throughout their course of study in the program.

• Nicholas Abraham Rhodes (MArch ’26)

Landscape Architecture Awards

Thesis Prize in Landscape Architecture

The Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize is given to the graduating student who has prepared the best independent thesis during the past academic year.

• Miriam Hernández Medina (MLA ’26)
• Andrew M. Schwartz (MLA ’26)

American Society of Landscape Architects Certificates

Nominated by the faculty in the GSD’s Department of Landscape Architecture, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) awards a certificate of Honor and a Certificate of Merit to students enrolled in the Master in Landscape Architecture program who have “demonstrated a high degree of academic scholarship and of accomplishment in skills related to the art and technology of landscape architecture.”

• Arda Cosan (MLA ’26), Certificate of Merit
• Flora Cairn Klein (MLA ’26), Certificate of Merit
• Chun Fai Anson Leung (MLA ’26), Certificate of Merit
• Michelle Li (MLA ’26), Certificate of Honor

Landscape Architecture Foundation Olmsted Scholar

Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Olmsted Scholars Program recognizes one outstanding student from each accredited landscape architecture program in the U.S. and Canada, along with the jury-selected graduate and undergraduate national award winners and finalists.

• Miriam Hernández Medina (MLA ’26)

Norman T. Newton Prize

The Norman T. Newton Prize is given to a graduating landscape architecture student whose work best exemplifies achievement in design expression as realized in any medium.

• Chun Fai Anson Leung (MLA ’26)
• Ryota Sunakawa (MLA ’26)

Peter Walker & Partners Fellowship for Landscape Architecture

The Peter Walker and Partners Fellowship for Landscape Architecture is awarded to support travel and study for a graduating GSD student to advance their understanding of the body of scholarship and practices related to landscape design.

• Oliver Dunstan Oglesby (MLA/MUP ’26)
• Andrew M. Schwartz (MLA ’26)

Jacob Weidenman Prize

The Jacob Weidenman Prize is awarded to the student of the most distinguished design achievement graduating from the Department of Landscape Architecture.

• Racha Doughman (MLA ’26)

Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship in Landscape Architecture

The Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship is awarded annually as the highest honor by the Department of Landscape Architecture to one of its graduates.

• Caroline Rose Brodeur (MLA/MUP  ’26)

Urban Planning and Design Awards

Academic Excellence in Urban Planning, Urban Design, and Real Estate

The Awards for Academic Excellence in Urban Planning, Urban Design, and  Real Estate honor graduating students from each of the programs who have achieved the highest academic record.

• Oliver Dunstan Oglesby (MLA/MUP ’26)
• Imani LaVerne Day (MAUD ’26)
• Ming Hong Choi (MRE ’25)

Awards for Outstanding Leadership in Urban Planning, Urban Design, and Real Estate

The Awards for Outstanding Leadership in Urban Planning, Urban Design, and Real Estate honor graduating students from each of the programs who have demonstrated outstanding leadership during their time at the Graduate School of Design.

• Hannah Jun (MUP ’26)
• James Musasizi (MAUD ’26)
• Gerardo Reyes-Varela Ferriño (MRE ’25)

Thesis Prize in Urban Planning & Design

The Planning and Design Thesis Prize is given to the graduating students in each of the programs who have prepared the best independent theses during the past academic year.

• Adin Isaac Becker (MUP ’26)
• Geonwoo Bae (MAUD ’26)

Award for Excellence in Project-Based Urban Planning

The Award for Excellence in Project-Based Urban Planning is given to students who have demonstrated exceptional ability in urban planning projects including research and design studios throughout their course of study.

• Oliver Dunstan Oglesby (MLA/MUP ’26)

Award for Excellence in Urban Design

The Award for Excellence in Urban Design is given to students who have demonstrated exceptional design ability throughout their course of study in the Urban Design program.

• Saagarika Martha Atlanta Dias (MAUD ’26)

American Planning Association Outstanding Student Award

The American Planning Association Outstanding Student Award recognizes outstanding attainment in the study of planning by students graduating from accredited planning programs. The recipient of the award is chosen by a jury of planning faculty at each school.

• Cameron Ford Hull (MUP ’26)

Ferdinand Colloredo-Mansfeld Prize for Superior Achievement in Real Estate Studies

The Ferdinand Colloredo-Mansfeld Prize for Superior Achievement in Real Estate Studies is awarded annually to a graduating student from any degree program, who has exhibited superior academic achievement and leadership in real estate studies.

• Amy Love Tomasso (MRE ’25)

Druker Traveling Fellowship

Established in 1986, the Druker Traveling Fellowship is open to all students at the GSD who demonstrate excellence in the design of urban environments. It offers students the opportunity to travel in the United States or abroad to pursue study that advances understanding of urban design.

• Imani LaVerne Day (MAUD ’26)

Design Engineering Awards

Overall Academic Performance Award

The Overall Academic Performance Award recognizes a graduating MDE student for outstanding academic performance in the Master in Design Engineering degree program.

• Luke Nathanial Chua Fiorante (MDE ’26)

Leadership and Community Prize

The Leadership and Community Prize recognizes one or more graduating students who have displayed outstanding leadership and community building within the Design Engineering cohort and who have represented MDE values to the larger world.

• Adrian Kombe (MDE ’26)

Outstanding Design Engineering Project

• Hana Khurshid (MDE ’26)
• Steffek Taylor Rainey (MDE ’26)

Design Studies Awards

Dimitris Pikionis Award

The Dimitris Pikionis Award recognizes a student for outstanding academic performance in the Master in Design Studies degree program.

• Zachary Deocadiz-Smith (MDes ’26)

Design Studies Domain Awards

• Spurty Laxmikantha Kamath (MDes ’26, Ecologies Domain)
• Eric Sigurd Rannestad (MDes ’26, Mediums Domain)
• Renzo Marsino Moreno (MDes ’26, Narratives Domain)
• Ami Mehta (MDes ’26, Publics Domain)