The Municipal Artwork Society of New York (MAS) introduced the winners of its Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, an award that honors three people who’ve every made “a unprecedented contribution to the standard of life in New York Metropolis.” The 2026 medal was bestowed upon Betsy Smith, president and CEO of the Central Park Conservancy; Rick Cotton, former govt director of the Port Authority; and Richard Olcott, principal at Ennead, a CannonDesign Firm.
The three people have every impacted completely different points of New York Metropolis’s city material: Smith by means of metropolis parks, Cotton with infrastructure and growth tasks, and Olcott with structure and buildings.
“This 12 months’s honorees replicate the breadth of civic management that sustains New York Metropolis,” stated MAS president Keri Butler. “Betsy Smith, Rick Cotton, and Richard Olcott have every considerably formed and revitalized city life—from the stalwart stewardship of Central Park—a vital civic useful resource, to the modernization of vital transportation infrastructure, to the delicate design of sustainable structure that defines our institutional and cultural id.”
Smith has led the Central Park Conservancy since 2018. In her time directing the nonprofit she has steered a stewardship plan that has seen the completion of over 29 capital tasks within the 843-acre park, amongst these the Davis Middle on the Harlem Meer. Previous to this position, Smith was the NYC Parks Assistant Commissioner underneath Bloomberg and a Board Member of Mates of the Excessive Line, amongst different positions.
Cotton served as the chief director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2017 to early 2026. Below his management, the three way partnership has began work, and accomplished, work on all three main airports within the New York Metropolis area: LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Newark Liberty. He stepped down from the position in January 2026 to retire, however work on tasks he helped oversee continues with the 16-acre World Commerce Middle campus, presently underneath development.
Olcott was certainly one of Ennead’s first workers. He has labored on the agency for 40 years on constructing tasks in New York Metropolis and globally. Among the many tasks Olcott has contributed to in New York Metropolis are renovations at Carnegie Corridor, Lincoln Middle, and Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Past training structure, Olcott has contributed to a number of organizations and served in a civic capability for various organizations. From 1996 to 2007 he was a commissioner on the Landmarks Preservation Fee and he’s Vice Chair of the Board of Administrators of the Municipal Artwork Society and a chair on its Preservation Committee, amongst different skilled accolades. CannonDesign acquired Ennead Architects earlier this 12 months, as reported by AN.
The popularity of Smith, Cotton, and Olcott follows that of architects Annabelle Selldorf and Elizabeth Diller, who obtained the 2025 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal.
The fifty fifth annual Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Celebration will happen on September 28, at The Grill within the Seagram Constructing. The medals will probably be offered by Selldorf alongside structure critic Paul Goldberger, one other Onassis Medal recipient.
