No campaigns. No submissions of self.
The Latimer Prize is conferred through a confidential nomination process. The Prize accepts no self-nominations, no public ballots, and no campaigns. The standard is the work, weighed against a century.
Who may nominate
A small body of senior readers, in confidence.
Nominations are received from three sources, and only three: past Latimer Laureates; the standing body of senior scholars, curators, and practitioners appointed each year by the Board; and a small group of partner universities, museums, foundations, and journals, invited to nominate within their disciplines.
A nominator may submit no more than three names in a year. Every nomination is held in confidence in perpetuity. The nominator's name is never disclosed to the nominee, the public, or the press.
Window
February · April
Nominations open the first Monday of February each year.
Form
Written
A short letter and a long-form citation. No résumé.
Limit
3 names
Per nominator, per year, across all disciplines.
Confidence
Permanent
Nominator and longlist are never published.
What is asked
The work, and the discipline it changed.
The nomination letter is short on purpose. It answers two questions: what is the body of work, and what discipline would be different without it. A long-form citation, one to three thousand words, backs those answers with the specific publications, projects, patents, films, scores, buildings, or institutions that make up the work.
We are not looking for the most visible figure in a field. We are looking for the one without whom the field would not be what it is.
How the work is read
Three rounds of private deliberation.
The longlist is reviewed across three rounds of private deliberation, with counsel from external readers in every discipline. The class is announced only once it is final, never before. There is no shortlist, no public vote, no leaked field. Nominators are not told whether their nominee advanced.
A nominee not chosen in a given year is automatically reconsidered for five more cycles without re-submission. After that, a fresh letter is invited.
Inquire
If you have been invited to nominate, write to the Office of the Secretary.
Invitations to nominate are issued by post each January. If you believe you should be invited, please write to the Secretary's office for review.
The Prize