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The winner of the 2001 Pascall Prize is the Sydney Morning Herald's architecture critic, Dr Elizabeth Farrelly. Her writing has pace and style, and she effectively combines academic and theoretical knowledge with strong opinions. The voice that emerges is clear and powerfully expressed. "You really get the sense of a coherent point of view pulsing through her work", said a judge. Dr Farrelly writes about a difficult subject - the built environment - with elan and a sense of humour, and she is able to communicate complicated ideas in an entertaining way. She helps us understand, as one judge put it, "by a mixture of history, context and gritty critique". "This woman has a gift" said another. "She moves effortlessly between the highbrow and the colloquial, reflecting changes not just in voice, but thought. Her arguments link tangible visual impressions with ambient theory and historical surveys. The pictures that she throws up are the result of scholarship; deep thinking about the role and destiny of the built environment." It should be remembered, however, that Dr Farrelly wins because she writes beautifully, not because she knows a lot about architecture. Or as one judge put it: "And then there's her language. What a pleasure, and what a signature idiom!...This is vivacious writing and it's going to be hard to match." Another judge said: " I want a writer to grab the prize, by which I mean someone who loves words and the way they rub against each other".
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