Patron of the Year

Recently the Chicago Architecture Foundation announced that it would be adding another architecture prize to the mix, but instead of awarding architects, as is the norm, their Patron of the Year Award will focus, naturally, on the client. Intended to boost the quality of buildings in Chicago by getting the attention of developers and other clients, winners will be chosen in three categories: Commercial, Governmental, and Institutional building types.

The award reminds me of the RIBA Client of the Year award, of which the British organization describes, "Unless the people who commission buildings have vision and faith, there can be no good architecture."

Nominations (pdf link) can be submitted by anybody and are due July 31.