Pritzker Prize, officially The Pritzker Architecture Prize, award for excellence in architecture, given annually since 1979. Largely modeled on the Nobel Prize, it is the premier architectural award in the United States and is named for the family that sponsors the Chicago-based Hyatt Foundation. Architects who have won the prize are: 1979, Philip Johnson (United States); 1980, Louis Barragan (Mexico); 1981, James Stirling (Great Britain); 1982, Kevin Roche (United States); 1983, I. M. Pei (United States); 1984, Richard Meier (United States); 1985, Hans Hollein (Austria); 1986, Gottfried Boehm (Germany); 1987, Kenzo Tange (Japan); 1988, Gordon Bunshaft (United States) and Oscar Niemeyer Soares (Brazil); 1989, Frank Gehry (United States); 1990, Aldo Rossi (Italy); 1991, Robert Venturi (United States); 1992, Alvaro Siza (Portugal); 1993, Fumihiko Maki (Japan); 1994, Christian de Portzamparc (France); 1995, Tadao Ando (Japan); 1996, Rafael Moneo (Spain); 1997, Sverre Fehn (Norway); 1998, Renzo Piano (Italy); 1999, Norman Foster (Great Britain); 2000, Rem Koolhaas (Netherlands); 2001, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (Switzerland); 2002, Glenn Murcutt (Australia); 2003, Jørn Utzon (Denmark); 2004, Zaha Hadid (Great Britain), the first female recipient; 2005, Thom Mayne (United States); 2006, Paulo Mendes da Rocha (Brazil); 2007, Richard Rogers (Great Britain); and 2008, Jean Nouvel (France).