Background
Over forty years ago, in honor of renowned city planner Henry A. Bettman, the Bettman family established a memorial fund to support excellence in city planning, the hallmark of Henry Bettman's career. The founders of the Bettman Memorial Fund designated AIA Cincinnati to serve as its custodian and administrator.
In the early 1970's, AIA Cincinnati commissioned the first Henry A. Bettman Memorial Fund Committee, comprised of James Fitzgerald, FAIA; Jerry Keltch, FAIA; and Donald Stevens, FAIA. Periodically over the years the chapter has directed proceeds from the Fund to support worthy urban design and planning initiatives consistent with the original objectives of the Bettman Fund founders most recently, the Fund helped produce the 1997 Riverfront Corridor Workshop, hosted by the Riverfront Advisory Council and the City of Cincinnati, in conjunction with the AIA Cincinnati's Urban Design Committee. This well attended one-day workshop enunciated critical planning and urban design recommendations for future riverfront development.
In 1998, wishing to invigorate participation in the design of our city - and to maximize the public and professional benefits of the Bettman Fund investments - AIA Cincinnati established the Bettman Prize. The Bettman Prize consists of the annual interest earned on the Bettman Fund's principal reserves, which the Board of Directors may on occasion augment with supplementary non-Fund allocation when appropriate or available. The Board of Directors will set the amount of the prize in the budget at the beginning on the calendar year.
Mission
AIA Cincinnati awards the Bettman Prize to proposals or exemplary merit that through creativity and vision seek to enrich the physical setting for urban life in greater Cincinnati. Proposals may address a broad variety of urban issues; neighborhood--- conservation; public housing; the streetscape; information design, signage, and way-finding; energy and ecology; urban recreation and riverfront development, land use and zoning; transportation; building design; historic preservation; and the design and planning of monuments, memorials, parks, outdoor artworks, and other public amenities.
AIA Cincinnati welcomes proposals for projects of varied scope and format, including research, programming studies, speculative design, small-scale construction, exhibitions, and installation of public art. The amount of the Bettman Prize may range between $1000 to $1500.
The Bettman Prize award program presupposes that modes but vivid demonstration of civic imagination can help stimulate positive debate about planning, design and city life. In the interests of such debate, the terms of the award stipulate that the Bettman Prize recipients will agree to present the completed project to the AIA Cincinnati membership and general public as the featured event at a regularly scheduled chapter meeting. In consideration of these requirements, the Board of Directors will disburse two-thirds of the award to the recipient(s) at the start of project and the remaining one-third upon its completion.
Eligibility
The Bettman Fund welcomes proposals from any applicant over the age of 18. AIA Cincinnati especially encourages planners, educators, artists, students, and concerned citizens to apply. Current directors, officers, executive directors and employees of AIA Cincinnati, AIA Ohio, and the American Institute of Architects are not eligible to apply for the Bettman Prize. Considerations for the Bettman Prize is limited to one proposal per application., past recipients in good standing may apply for the Bettman Prize no sooner than two years following receipt of their most recent award.
Criteria for Evaluation
The Bettman Prize jury will consider the following criteria in its evaluation of project proposals: relevance to the mission of the Bettman Fund; potential to broaden and elevate public awareness of urban design issues; breadth of constituency and public impact; creative depth; innovation; image ability; qualifications of the applicant; and project feasibility (the potential to complete the project within a 12 month period).
Selection and Composition of the Jury
Every year in a timely fashion the President of AIA Cincinnati will invite the Board of Directors to nominate distinguished practitioners, educators, and community leaders to serve as members of the Bettman Prize committee. From this list of nominees, the President will appoint no less than three committee members, such that each of the aforementioned constituencies - practice, education, and the public - will have a voice in the determination of the winning proposal; AIA Cincinnati's Vice President/President-Elect will served as an ex officio committee member. In addition to these annually-appointed members, at the inauguration of the program and every three years thereafter the President will appoint a chair person for the Bettman Prize committee, to serve a three-year term. The President at his or her discretion may invite the chair of the Urban Design Committee and other members of AIA Cincinnati to serve as non-voting advisors to the committee.
Submission Requirements
Proposals must include a brief letter of intent; a 500 word maximum project description; a brief resume of the applicant(s), a production schedule for the proposed project; and an itemized budget. Optional application materials include appropriate supportive documentation, a portfolio of selected work, up to twenty (20) 2"x 2" transparencies, and letters of recommendation. Applications may not exceed ten (10) 8.5"x11" pages, excluding letters of intent and support, front and back covers, and slide carriers.
Exhibition and Publication of Projects
At its discretion, AIA Cincinnati may from time to time exhibit photographs and other documentation of the Bettman Prize - at area institutions, including schools, banks galleries, and libraries; releases to local and national newspapers and magazines images and editorial descriptions of Bettman Prize projects; and publish material related to the Bettman Prize program in the form of posters, pamphlets, monographs, and books.
AIA Cincinnati will work with Bettman Prize recipients to record the progress of work; store and maintain drawings; photographs and models of the work; and develop a suitable archive of Bettman Prize documentation for the benefit of future applicants, chapter members, and the public.
Administration
The chair of the Bettman Prize committee will coordinate the annual program in close consultation with the Board of Directors of AIA Cincinnati and its Executive Director. AIA Cincinnati will announce the requirements and criteria of the Bettman Prize program in the spring and fall issues of the AIA Cincinnati newsletter. Simultaneously, by means of announcements to the press, AIA Cincinnati will disseminate these criteria and procedures to appropriate regional news media and institutions.
AIA Cincinnati will solicit and accept applications for the Bettman Prize twice every year: on 1 February and 1 August. The Bettman Prize committee will convene to review proposals accordingly. The jury has no obligation to make an award when it convenes, and a maximum of one award will be made each year. The President will announce the winning recipient(s) of the award within four weeks after each of these deadlines. Projects will commence with the signing of a letter of agreement between AIA Cincinnati and the recipient(s). Bettman Prize recipients will present the completed project at a chapter meeting, open to the public, to be designated by the Board of Directors.