The call for nominations for the 2011 Royal Gold Medal are now open. I.M. Pei received the 2010 Royal Gold Medal.
Given in recognition of a lifetime's work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by Her Majesty the Queen and is awarded annually to a person or group of people whose influence on architecture has had a truly international effect.
The award is for a body of work, rather than for one building or for an architect who is currently fashionable. Previous winners include Le Corbusier (1953), Frank Gehry (2000), Archigram (2002), Frei Otto (2005), Toyo Ito |(2006), Herzog and de Meuron |(2007), Edward (Ted) Cullinan| (2008), Alvaro Siza (2009) and I. M. Pei (2010)