Saying the 2026 AJF Younger Artist Award, Supported by Karen and Michael Rotenberg
Lynchburg, VA, US—Artwork Jewellery Discussion board (AJF) is happy to announce the 2026 AJF Younger Artist Award, supported by Karen and Michael Rotenberg—the twenty second cycle of this prestigious prize.
The competitors, held each two years, acknowledges revolutionary work created by a jewellery artist early of their profession. Via the Younger Artist Award, Artwork Jewellery Discussion board helps new and thrilling work that can encourage future developments within the discipline.
Bold modern jewellery artists aged 35 and beneath are invited to use for this worldwide prize in modern artwork jewellery, which incorporates US$7,500 for the winner, in addition to an exhibition at Platina throughout Schmuck—often known as Munich jewellery week—in March 2026, for the winner and 4 finalists.
The advantages of profitable ripple out past the monetary; previous recipients have described the prize as boosting their power and motivation, and the sense of encouragement and help they acquired from the sector enhanced their confidence. The award has superior their careers by advantage of elevated publicity, networking connections, and exhibition alternatives.
For the fourth cycle in a row, the AJF Younger Artist Award competitors is generously supported by the collectors Karen and Michael Rotenberg, whose assortment focuses on the revolutionary use of different supplies by rising and mid-career artists. AJF is deeply grateful for his or her dedication, which gives a prize of US$7,500 for the winner; US$1,000 awards for every of the 4 finalists; and a journey allowance of US$1,000 every for the winner and the finalists who journey to Munich to obtain their award. AJF can also be grateful to Sofia Björkman, of the Stockholm-based gallery Platina, for offering a venue to show the work of the winner and finalists.
Discover the competitors pointers and software type right here. (The rules and hyperlink additionally seem under.) Submissions are being accepted now by November 9, 2025.
The jury this 12 months consists of Bryan Parnham (US), Thereza Pedrosa (Italy and Netherlands), and Jimena Ríos (Argentina).
Bryan Parnham gained the 2024 AJF Younger Artist Award. He’s an American artist and jeweler. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth College, he has been a resident artist and lecturer at numerous universities and establishments throughout the US and overseas. Notably, he was awarded the Core Fellowship at Penland College of Craft; was a resident artist in Cortona, Italy, with the College of Georgia; and featured within the Museum of Arts and Design present MAD about Jewellery in 2022. Parnham is at the moment pursuing new work as a full time artist.
Thereza Pedrosa is an artwork historian, unbiased curator, creator, and gallery proprietor with intensive worldwide expertise in modern artwork and jewellery. She is the founding father of the Thereza Pedrosa Gallery and the creator of the Orizzonti d’Autore biennial and the Archeometra Lifetime Achievement Award. Over the previous 15 years, she has curated exhibitions for museums, galleries, and establishments throughout Europe, whereas additionally contributing essays to key publications within the discipline. Her background contains each educational analysis and hands-on design, having labored as a jewellery designer and as scientific coordinator for the Peggy Guggenheim Assortment’s exhibition Revealing Papers. Deeply dedicated to selling artwork jewellery as an artwork type, she brings a curatorial imaginative and prescient that mixes scholarly depth with a drive to open modern jewellery to a broader public.
Jimena Ríos lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied jewellery on the Escola Massana (Barcelona, Spain). She is ending an MA in curatorial research at UNTREF (Buenos Aires). In 2013, Ríos based Taller Eloi, a jewellery college in Buenos Aires. She works as an educator, curator, and editor. Along with Iris Eichenberg, she organized the Hand Medal Undertaking.
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PURPOSE OF AWARD
To acknowledge innovation and individuality within the work of a recent jewellery artist who:
- Is early of their profession
- Has created an unbiased physique of labor
- Reveals potential for persevering with to create new work and is rigorous of their strategy to creating and producing new, thrilling, and considerate viewpoints
And to advance the profession of a promising artist.
AWARD
- Unrestricted money award of US$7,500 for the winner
- Unrestricted money award of US$1,000 every for 4 (4) finalists
- The winner can be acknowledged as a member of AJF on AJF’s web site for one 12 months
- Separate interviews can be carried out with the winner and every of the 4 (4) finalists, to be printed on AJF’s web site within the spring and summer season of 2026
JURORS
This 12 months’s jury will encompass:
- Artist Bryan Parnham (US), the winner of the 2024 AJF Younger Artist Award
- Gallerist Thereza Pedrosa (Italy and Netherlands)
- Maker and educator Jimena Rios (Argentina)
ENTRY CRITERIA
- The applicant have to be a maker of wearable artwork jewellery
- The applicant have to be 35 years of age or youthful on the date of the applying deadline (which is November 9, 2025)
- The applicant can’t be at the moment enrolled in a proper educational diploma program (BS/BA, MS/MS/MFA, and so on.) or a vocational coaching program; eligibility of candidates enrolled in a PhD program can be reviewed on a case-by-case foundation
- Work submitted should have been unsupervised; work from thesis and/or graduate diploma exhibits will not be eligible
- Submitted work should have been accomplished inside the earlier two years, i.e., for the 2026 award, work have to be accomplished between 2024 and 2025
- Candidates who’ve utilized beforehand should submit new work, i.e., work submitted for a previous AJF Younger Artist Award software will not be resubmitted within the present software
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS
The next data have to be submitted in English by way of the CaFÉ web site.
Be aware: The applying charge is waived for members of AJF at a stage of US$50 and above. Be part of by end-of-day on November 7, 2025, to obtain the charge waiver code. Low cost member codes can be emailed to lively, new, and renewing members on Fridays. (Test your membership standing right here. Be part of right here.)(Test your membership standing right here. Be part of right here.)
- Present resume (one web page lengthy most)*
- Artist assertion regarding the work submitted, most 1000 characters*
- Date of delivery (you have to be 35 years of age or youthful on the applying deadline of November 9, 2025)
- Whether or not you’re at the moment enrolled in a proper educational diploma program (sure/no); if sure, you aren’t eligible
- Should you’re represented by a gallery (sure/no); if sure, identify(s) of gallery(ies)
- Should you’ve utilized for the Younger Artist Award beforehand (sure/no); if sure, when
- The way you realized about this competitors (e.g., teacher; posting at college; curator; gallerist; SNAG Information; journal [specify]; social media; collector; former award winner; and so on.)
- Degree {of professional} coaching (BA, BFA, MA, MFA, PhD, or self-taught) and date of completion (month/12 months graduated)
- A minimal of six and a most of 10 digital photographs exhibiting as much as eight items of labor.*
- At the least one picture should present a bit being worn on the physique
One picture should present the again or underside of a bit - Picture necessities: Comply with the picture necessities on the CaFÉ web site
- Please word: In case your software makes it to the finalist spherical, you will want to offer all submitted photographs at 300 dpi, panorama most well-liked, TIFF or JPEG, and file dimension 3000KB. The high-resolution photographs can be utilized by AJF for media and/or promotion
- Every picture file have to be labeled with the next*:
1. Title of piece
2. 12 months produced
3. Dimensions in millimeters
4. Supplies
5. Picture credit score
*Don’t embrace your identify on the resume, artist assertion, or photographs, because the jurying course of is blind.
Functions shut at 11:59 p.m., Mountain Time Zone (Denver, CO, USA), on November 9, 2025. Incomplete and late entries won’t be accepted.
WINNER’S + FINALISTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
- The profitable artist and finalists shall guarantee supply of labor to AJF member gallery Platina for show throughout Munich Jewelry Week in March 2026
- The profitable artist and finalists can be offered to the viewers on the Internationale Handwerksmesse throughout Munich Jewelry Week 2026 (March 4–8, 2026). The profitable artist should journey to Munich, Germany, on Saturday, March 7, 2026, for the award ceremony, the place they are going to ship a 10-minute presentation about their work. The (profitable) artist will organize journey at their very own expense however will obtain a journey allowance of $1,000.
The 4 finalists, although beneath no obligation, can be invited and inspired to attend, and every will obtain a journey allowance of $1,000 and also will organize their very own journey bills.
Candidates must be aware of the time it would take to get a visa for Germany to obtain the award. If a visa is required, it’s best to begin the method of acquiring it now, even with out understanding whether or not you’ll win.
- The profitable artist is anticipated to take part as a juror within the following AJF Younger Artist Award competitors in 2028
AWARD NOTIFICATION
- Jury assessment will happen December 2025–January 2026
- Work can be judged on originality, depth of idea, continuity of design, and high quality of workmanship
- There can be three rounds of assessment. The highest 10–15% scoring artists within the first spherical of particular person juror assessment can be moved to the second spherical. After the second spherical of particular person assessment, the highest scorers will advance to the third spherical, the place the jury will meet to pick out the winner and 4 finalists
- The profitable artist can be notified in mid-February by phone and electronic mail, and is anticipated to rearrange journey to Munich Jewelry Week to be onstage when the award is formally offered
- The 4 finalists may also be notified by phone and electronic mail in mid-February; finalists who can journey to Munich to be in attendance on the March 7, 2026, award ceremony can be provided a $1000 journey stipend
- All candidates can be knowledgeable by electronic mail after the winner and finalists have been notified in mid-February
- The winner and finalists can be offered at Munich Jewelry Week, between March 7, 2026
AJF doesn’t discriminate based mostly on age, ancestry, incapacity, household standing, gender id or expression, marital standing, army standing, nationwide origin, race or shade, faith or creed, intercourse or sexual orientation, or for some other purpose.
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