The RIBA Charles Jencks Award was established with prize money awarded to Charles Jencks from the Nara Gold Medal, which he received in 1992.

Charles Jencks donated this prize money to the RIBA to set up an endowment fund, the interest from which was initially used for an exchange programme between British and Japanese architects called the Island Award.

In 2003, the investment purpose of the fund was changed to create an annual award with a remit that has remained untouched since then: to reward an individual (or practice) that has recently made a major contribution simultaneously to the theory and practice of architecture. In addition to prize money, the winner delivers a lecture at the RIBA.