James Marston Fitch Award
Each year, the National Council for Preservation Education recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of historic preservation education. The Fitch award is named after the pioneering preservation educator and founder of the historic preservation program at Columbia University, James Marston Fitch. The award honors those who, throughout their careers, have demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in the field.
James Marston Fitch Award Winners
Most Recent Winner:
Congratulations to our most current winner and recipient of the James Marston Fitch Award. We commend them for their hard work, effort, and dedication!
Paul H. Kapp (2025)
Paul Hardin Kapp is an Associate Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches historic preservation. He is also the director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability. Professor Kapp is a practicing architect and his designs have won numerous preservation awards. He is the author of several books and journal articles pertaining to historic preservation and cultural heritage management. His most recent award-winning publication, Heritage and Hoop Skirts: How Natchez Created the Old South, is, as noted by Lauren Weiss Bricker, “a fascinating exploration of the complex roles that preservation can play in community and economic development, much less in reinforcing traditionally held values.”
Previously, Professor Kapp served as Chair of the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE), where he recalibrated the organization’s relationship with the IRS and established a partnership between Preservation Education & Research (PER) and an academic publisher to enhance the journal’s distribution.
Past Winners:
2024 – Thomas D. Visser
2023 – Lauren Weiss Bricker
2022 – Ted Ligibel
2019 – Robert Young
2018 – Richard Longstreth
2017 – Dave Mertz
2016 – David Ames
2014 – John Waters
2013 – Roy Graham
2012 – Brown Morton
2011 – Eugene Cizek
2010 – David Woodcock
2009 – Michael Tomlan
2008 – Robert Melnick
2007 – Hugh Miller
2006 – Lyle Rosenberger
2005 – Don Peting
2004 – Chester Liebs
2003 – David Fogle
2002 – Marshall McLennan
2001 – Kevin Jordan
2000 – Bernd Foerster
NCPE Distinguished Service Award
Winners:
1989 – Antoinette Downing
1989 – Blair Reeves
1989 – Robert Stipe
