2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the AWARE Prizes and the opening of a new chapter in their history, with the event inscribed in the institutional calendar of the Centre Pompidou – Musée national d’art moderne, which AWARE joined in January. Since their creation in 2016, the AWARE Prizes — the Nouveau Regard Prize and the Outstanding Merit Prize — have played an essential role in promoting and recognizing women and non-binary artists on the French art scene. This initiative has proved itself to be a powerful driver of visibility for artists, both in France and internationally, as evidenced by current exhibitions and the awarding of major contemporary art prizes. The Nouveau Regard Prize is awarded to a mid-career artist, while the Outstanding Merit Prize is given to an artist with more than forty years of career achievement. The prizewinners’ works will enter the collections of the Musée national d’Art moderne.

This year, four professionals (including one duo) from the cultural sector will once again preselect a pair of artists each, nominated respectively for the Nouveau Regard Prize and the Outstanding Merit Prize. They will present and defend the artists’ work before a jury composed of seven leading figures from the cultural world, curators from the Musée national d’art moderne as well as those not linked to the museum. For this edition, the selected artists of the Nouveau Regard Prize and their commissioners are: Cécile B. Evans, nominated by Juliette Desorgues, curator and art critic; Laura Gozlan, nominated by Vincent Enjalbert, curator and Head of Exhibitions at Bétonsalon; Bettina Samson, nominated by Amélie Deschamps and Lucie Camous, an artist-researcher duo; and Saodat Ismailova, nominated by Dilda Ramazan, curator and art historian.

The 2026 jury, chaired by Jeanne Brun (Deputy Director in charge of Collections, Centre Pompidou – Musée national d’art moderne), is composed of: Camille Morineau (curator, co-founder and Head of AWARE, Centre Pompidou – MNAM), Philippe Bettinelli (curator, New Media Department, Centre Pompidou – MNAM), Myriam Mihindou (artist, winner of the AWARE Nouveau Regard Prize in 2022), Victorine Grataloup (Director of Le Triangle-Astérides, co-president of DCA), Salimata Diop (curator), and Sébastien Faucon (Chief Curator and Director at LaM, Villeneuve d’Ascq).

The prize winners of this anniversary edition will be announced on May 12, 2026, at the French Ministry of Culture.

The AWARE Prizes are supported by CHANEL and the French Ministry of Culture.