ABOUT THE READING ROOM
The Reading Room is an evolving collection of essays, articles and book excerpts that address aspects of the designed world from a variety of critical perspectives. They include the work of faculty members of this program.

ON-SITE AND ACADEMIC RESOURCES
Students work in a custom-designed studio environment with personal workstations and Internet networking. The MFA in Design Criticism has its own floor of a beautiful building in the Flatiron district of New York City. In addition to its own resources, SVA has institutional relationships with some of the world's best design collections, libraries and archives, as well as being in close proximity to the city's design studios and publishing houses.

SVA SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS
Offered to Design Criticism MFA students.


Henry Wolf Scholarships

Tuition for one year will be granted to an incoming student. This annual $25,000 gift honors Henry Wolf (1925–2005), the graphic designer, photographer and seminal art director of Esquire, Harper's Bazaar and Show magazines in the 1950s and '60s. The receiver of this award is chosen based on their submitted D-Crit application, and no application form is necessary.


Silas H. Rhodes Scholarships

Partial-tuition awards—totaling $50,000 annually—will be distributed to students entering their second year who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement during the course of their first year of study.


SVA Alumni Scholarship Awards

This interdepartmental award offers support for the direct costs of completing a final thesis project. The grant ranges from $500 to $2,000 based upon academic and artistic merit as determined by a review panel, and financial need as demonstrated by your project budget. The average award is expected to be $1,000. Students may request amounts in increments of $500 (i.e. $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000). In 2008, 30 awards will be given throughout graduate and undergraduate departments, totaling $40,000.

GRANTS AND PRIZES
Select awards for writing about design or visual culture.


frieze Writer's Prize

The frieze magazine writer's prize is an annual award intended to discover and promote new art critics. Entrants must submit one 700-word review of a recent contemporary art show, written in English (translated texts are accepted). To qualify, writers must have had at least three articles published previously in a printed newspaper or magazine. The winner will receive a monetary prize of 2,000 British pounds, as well as a commission to write a review for the October issue of freize. The closing date for entries is June 23, 2008.
[frieze.com/magazine]


Winterhouse Awards For Design Writing & Criticism

A program of AIGA, these annual awards seek to increase the understanding and appreciation of design, both within the profession and throughout American life. They were founded by Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel of the Winterhouse Institute to recognize excellence in writing about design and encourage the development of young voices in design writing, commentary and criticism. Each year, there are two types of awards: a writing award of $10,000 given for a body of work (open to writers, critics, scholars, historians, journalists and designers) and an education award of $1,000 (open to undergraduate or graduate students). Accepting submissions for the 2008 awards beginning Monday, March 3.
[aiga.org/content.cfm/writing-awards]


Warhol Fund for Critical Writing

This three-year pilot program issues project-based grants directly to individual authors whose work addresses contemporary visual art. In its first year, the Arts Writers Grant Program issued awards for books, articles, and experiments in new and alternative media; The program's second year introduced a new grant category for short-form writing (texts of 1,000 words or less), seeking an increased engagement with article-based projects that explore pressing issues in the contemporary visual arts. Of particular interest are texts that illuminate the value of contemporary for all viewers through its ability to enrich understanding of our world and to offer a space of freedom from and a critical relationship with prevailing norms. New guidelines for 2008 are announced March 10.
[artswriters.org/home.php]


Rome Prize Fellowship 2008–2009

The American Academy in Rome is currently accepting applications for the Rome Prize competition. The Academy, a leading overseas center for independent study and advanced research in the arts, offers up to thirty fellowships for periods ranging from six months to two years. Winners reside at the Academy's eleven-acre center in Rome, receiving room, board, a study or studio, and a stipend: $12,500 for six-month fellowships and $25,000 for eleven-months. Fellowships are awarded in the fields of Design (including graphic, fashion, industrial, interior, lighting, set, and sound design, engineering and urban planning), Architecture, Historic Preservation and Conservation (including architectural design, public policy, and the conservation of works of art), and Landscape Architecture. Fellowships are also awarded in: Literature, Musical Composition, Visual Arts, Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies and Modern Italian Studies. To download guidelines and application forms, visit the Academy's website. The application deadline is November 1, 2008.
[aarome.org]


Deborah J. Norden Fund

The Deborah J. Norden Fund awards a total of up to $5,000 annually in travel or study grants to students and recent graduates in the fields of architecture, architectural history, and urban studies. The fund is administered by the Architectural League of New York. This year's application deadline was March 31, 2008.
[archleague.org]


The Levinson Prize

The Samuel Eleazar and Rose Tartakow Levinson Prize is awarded each year for an unpublished essay in the history of technology that examines in detail a technology or technological device or process within the framework of social or intellectual history. It is intended for younger scholars and new entrants into the profession. Manuscripts must be in English and of a length suitable for publication as an article in Technology and Culture—approximately 7,500 words (not including notes) and 100 notes. The award consists of $450 and a certificate, to be presented at the Society's annual meeting. The winning manuscript will be considered for publication in Technology and Culture. The closing date for nominations was April 15, 2008.
[historyoftechnology.org/awards/levinson.html]

DESIGN MUSEUMS
Click here for a selection of design museums and museums with design collections, organized by state and country.

DESIGN HISTORY ARCHIVES
Click here for a list of design history archives and libraries.