Answer: "Whom" is the word that fills in the blank: "The award for excellence in architectural design will go to the architech WHOM the committee selects". The antecedent is "architect".
Explanation: "Whom" is a relative pronoun used to introduce an adjective clause, that is to say a dependent clause which is included in a sentence to give more information about the antecedent. Moreover, "whom" refers to an object of the verb or the preposition. In the sentence provided, <u>"whom" is the word that fills in the blank because it is acting as the direct object of the clause ("whom" can be replaced with "him" or "her"). </u>Furthermore,<u> "whom" is making reference to "architect", which is the antecedent. </u>