The Onera Prize for Historic Preservation, created in 2018, is an annual graduation award generously funded through the Onera Foundation. It is awarded to either a graduating student or a team of up to 2 graduating students from Columbia GSAPP’s M.S. Program in Historic Preservation. The intention of the Prize is to provide an opportunity to conduct a project that tests new experimental preservation theories in practice. Selected through a proposal review, the prize is awarded to the project which shows unique ambition, creativity and passion, and is most likely to make an impact in advancing preservation as a form of contemporary cultural production.

The amount of the award is $25,000. The project may be undertaken anywhere in the world. It may last up to six months after graduation and a final report is requested. To be eligible for consideration, applicants must currently be completing an M.S. degree in Historic Preservation at Columbia GSAPP. Students completing dual degree programs with Historic Preservation at Columbia GSAPP are also eligible.

Recipients will be announced at GSAPP’s Spring Commencement and prizes will be issued after the recipients’ graduation. If their project requires international travel, the expectation is that graduates will travel in accordance with Columbia’s Global Travel guidance and regulations.

Your application is due to the Historic Preservation Office by 12:00 PM on Friday, April 25, 2025. The application must consist of the following five items:

1. The application itself, consisting of no more than 1,000 words describing the project to be carried out the year after graduation.
2. An essay of no more than 250 words indicating how your proposed project brings a contemporary perspective to the preservation field.
3. Current curriculum vitae.
4. The names and e-mail addresses of at least two faculty members who have reviewed your proposed project.
5. A schematic budget indicating the costs for the project.

The application should begin by stating the nature of the proposed project and then explain to the Selection Committee what you intend to do. It should include not only the activities that you plan to undertake but also how they will be accomplished, by whom, where, and when. It should also indicate why you want to do this project.

Be sure to address explicitly the three points in the above paragraph: (1) project description, (2) project rationale, and (3) expected outcomes. These three topics may be used as sub-titles in organizing your text. Proposals which provide a clear description of the proposed project and goals will be prioritized. The selection committee will be comprised of faculty of the Historic Preservation program. 

Previous Onera Prize Recipients

2024
Eleanor Phetteplace
The Unaccounted Value of Historic Buildings: Sustainable Preservation Design and Embodied Carbon Accounting

2023
Hongye Wang
Amplifying and Uncovering Underrepresented Narratives: A New Data-Based Experimental Method for Cultural Heritage Research

2022
Ziming Wang
Living Above the Street: Stewarding New York City’s Historic Built Environment Towards Flood Resilience
For more information, you can visit the Living Above the Street website.

2021
Katlyn Foster
Spatializing Preservation: A New Tool for Understanding Preservation’s Role in Urban Histories and Uncertain Futures

2020
Sarah Sargent
Toxic Histories: Unearthing Buried Cities

2019
Aura Maria Jaramillo and Daniella Zamora
Cali Histórica

2018
Ethan Boote and Morgan O’Hara
Reflective Futures Poughkeepsie

Halley Ramos
Augmented Reality (AR) at the San Baudelio de Berlanga Hermitage