The Canberra Medallion is an annual architecture award presented by the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

(ACT) Chapter of the

Australian Institute of Architects The Australian Institute of Architects, officially the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (abbreviated as RAIA), is Australia's professional body for architects. Its members use the post-nominals FRAIA (Fellow), ARAIA (Associate Member) an ...

. It is regarded as the highest award at the annual ACT architecture awards.

Background

Established in 1956, the Canberra Medallion is one of the oldest architecture awards in Australia. Only the

Victorian Architecture Medal The Victorian Architecture Medal is the highest honour awarded annually by the Victoria Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) and has been awarded 38 consecutive times since 1987. The Medal was originally known as the ‘Street ...

/Street Architecture Medal (1929) and the NSW

Sir John Sulman Medal The Sir John Sulman Medal for Public Architecture is an architectural award presented by the New South Wales chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects since 1932. The medal is sometimes referred to as the Sulman Award and now recognise ...

(1934) are older state based awards for architecture.

Early awards and name change

Initially the award was known as the ''Award for Meritorious Architecture ''by the Canberra Area Committee of the RAIA. In 1962 when the ACT Chapter was established the award was renamed and a bronze medallion to 'equal the prestige of the Sulman Medal' was added. The medallion is named for Australia's capital city,

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, located in the

, although most winning projects are located in the city not all winners are located in Canberra. CanberraMedallion2011

Bronze medallion design

The medallion was designed by Peter Swalling in 1968 and first presented to the 1968 Canberra Medallion winning project, the Norwood Park Crematorium. The circular style of the medallion has remained the same although materials and finishes have changed over the years.

Canberra Medallion winners since 2000

Canberra Medallion winners 1956—1999

Note: Prior to 1967 the Canberra Medallion was known as the ACT Meritorious Architecture Award.

References