As has been the tradition at VAF, the 2017 awardees were announced with much fanfare at the banquet on Saturday night.  Each awardee was recognized for their contributions to VAF and to the field of vernacular architecture studies.  Please click on the links below to read the inspiring stories and view the evocative images of each awardee.

Award for Advocacy: The 2017 Advocacy Award went to the partnership of the MT Preservation Alliance, the MT History Foundation, and author/photographer Charlotte Caldwell for their “Big Sky Schoolhouses Statewide Preservation Project”.

Catherine W. Bisher prize: The winners of the 2017 Catherine W. Bishir Prize are Sarah L. Lopez, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas, Austin and Margaret M. Grubiak, Associate Professor of Architectural History at Villanova University, Pennsylvania.

Paul E. Buchanan Award: The winner of the 2017 Paul E. Buchanan Award is The Newport Restoration Foundation of Newport, RI for their 2016 conference Keeping History Above Water, exhibition, and publication Keeping 74 Bridge Street Above Water: Lessons from the City of Newport and the Point Neighborhood on protecting historic structures and neighborhoods from the impacts of climate change.

Abbott Lowell Cummings: The 2017 Cummings Award was given to Louis Nelson for Architecture and Empire in Jamaica (Yale University Press, 2016) a landmark accomplishment for the study of vernacular architecture.

Henry Glassie Award: This year's recipient for special contributions to the field is Carl Loundsbury.

Orlando Ridout V Fieldwork Fellowships: The five recipients of the Ridout fellowships for 2017 were:

Travis McDonald, Field School Director, Poplar Forest Restoration Field School  - $1000

Karen Hudson, Field School Director, Kentucky Field School, University of Kentucky - $1000

Rebecca Fernandez, scholarship to attend Poplar Forest Restoration Field School - $500

Jobie Hill, Preservation architect, Monticello – Thomas Jefferson Foundation.  Support of fieldwork to complete field survey of slave housing in Virginia and addition of results to the Slave House Database she created and maintains - $500.

C. Ian Stevenson, PhD candidate, American and New England Studies Program, Boston University.  Support of field work related to dissertation “Army Tales Told While the Pot Boiled: The Civil War Vacation in Architecture and Landscape, 1880-1910.” $500.

Funding still available – applications accepted until October 1, 2017