Deadline: 15-Nov-2025
The Carter Manny Award supports the completion of outstanding doctoral dissertations on architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society.
Eligible dissertation projects must focus on architecture, though scholarly investigations may be grounded in a range of academic disciplines and fields of inquiry that align with the mission of the Graham Foundation. These include: architecture and architectural history; art and art history; design; engineering; landscape architecture; urbanism; and other related fields.
The award focuses on originality, potential for impact, feasibility, and applicant capacity. Originality refers to an innovative, challenging idea with critical, independent thinking and a new approach or methodology. Potential for impact emphasizes the dissertation’s contribution to discourse or to the field, expanding knowledge and raising awareness of understudied issues.
Each year, the Graham Foundation offers two Carter Manny Awards: one Research Award for a PhD candidate at the research stage of the doctoral dissertation and one Writing Award for a PhD candidate at the writing stage of the doctoral dissertation. The Research Award is acknowledged with up to $20,000 and the Writing Award is acknowledged with up to $25,000.
The Research Award assists PhD candidates with research that is essential to the doctoral project, covering travel, documentation, materials, supplies, and other development costs. Applicants must present a well-defined work plan detailing research goals, travel, archival visits, and research methods. In contrast, the Writing Award supports the timely completion of the PhD by funding candidates in the final stages of dissertation writing.
While some funds may be used to conclude research, the award primarily facilitates a period of uninterrupted writing. Applicants must include a writing sample from the dissertation, a dissertation table of contents, and a writing schedule. Citations of Special Recognition may also be awarded in some years to highlight outstanding projects.
The Carter Manny Awards are selected by a diverse panel of scholars in the fields of inquiry represented by the award. Feasibility evaluates whether the project has a sound methodology, realistic goals, and accessible sources, while capacity assesses the applicant’s qualifications and ability to complete the dissertation successfully.
Each department may nominate up to two candidates per cycle—one for the Research Award and one for the Writing Award. Applications require a nomination letter, applicant and dissertation details, a dissertation abstract, a work plan, a dissertation proposal, a bibliographic essay, a writing sample, a table of contents, visuals, a curriculum vitae, and two letters of reference—one from the thesis advisor and another from a specialist in the research area, preferably outside the applicant’s institution.
Award decision notifications will be issued in June 2026, and the one-year award period will begin on September 1, 2026, for the 2026–27 academic year.
The application deadline is November 15, 2025, at 5 p.m. Central Time.
For more information, visit Graham Foundation.