Submit Nominations For MAS 2025 Brendan Gill Prize For Creative Works

In 2024, what creative works inspired you and made you feel more connected to New York City?

Editor’s note: Last year, we covered the winner of this prize for Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces. We also covered the nomination announcement. 

Call for Nominations: 2025 Brendan Gill Prize

Now through January 15, MAS invites the public to submit nominations for the 2025 Brendan Gill Prize.

The Gill Prize is given each year to the creator of a specific work; a film, play, musical composition, book, painting, essay, sculpture, or choreographic piece, that best captures the spirit and energy of New York City. The 2025 Gill Prize will be awarded to an honoree who created an exceptional work in 2024.

Past honorees include Thomas (T.) Jean Lax and Linda Goode Bryant, for Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces, Charles Gaines for The American Manifest: Chapter One, John Wilson for How to with John Wilson, Kara Walker for A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby…, Sufjan Stevens for The BQE, Ang Lee for The Wedding Banquet, and many more.

About the Brendan Gill Prize

MAS has awarded the Brendan Gill Prize since 1987 to draw attention to the varieties of artistic experiences that enrich our contemporary life. It was established to honor renowned New Yorker theater and architecture critic Brendan Gill, who was a dedicated preservationist and long-time MAS Director.

The 2025 honoree will be presented with their Prize during an in-person award ceremony to be hosted in September 2025. The 2024 Gill Prize is endowed to permit a cash award. The prize is not awarded for a body of work or lifetime achievement.

All eligible nominations must have been completed and produced between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, and must be based-in and pertaining to New York City.

Banner Image:  2018 Brendan Gill Prize winner: Julia Wertz for “Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City.” Image Credit – Julia Wertz.

Municipal Arts Society Of New York

The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape New York’s built environment and leads the way toward a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. MAS envisions a future in which all New Yorkers share in the richness of city life—where growth is balanced, character endures, and a resilient future is secured. Over more than 125 years of history, our advocacy efforts have led to the creation of the New York City Planning Commission, Public Design Commission, Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Tribute in Light; the preservation of Grand Central Terminal, the lights of Times Square, and the Garment District; the conservation of more than 50 works of public art; and the founding of such civic organizations as the Public Art Fund, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, P.S. 1, the Historic Districts Council, the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy, and the Waterfront Alliance.