Prizes and Awards

This page highlights the prizes and awards earned by members of the International Academy of Ceramics, celebrating excellence, innovation, and lasting contributions to the field of contemporary ceramics worldwide.	Due to the growing membership and the increasing number of prizes, this page focuses on awards won in the last five years.

Prizes and Award 2024

The 13th International Ceramics Competition Mino, Japan
“The Kiln” (2021), clay, glaze, fragments of an electric kiln. Hand-building, 1280°C.
Ielizaveta PORTNOVA – Grand Prix Member page “This work is from my abstract zoomorphic series, which I started in 2018. In the works of this series I use both my previously made objects and objects of other authors. Sometimes I work from scraps of old works or from pieces of sculptures made specifically for the project In the work “Kiln” I used the fragments of my kiln. We made this kiln in 2002. Once, one piece exploded during firing and damaged the kiln. By this time, the kiln had completed more than 500 firings. Fragments of a kiln and heating elements were inlaid into this work.	The original object has its own character and energy. I use this data to develop the source material into the final image. My task is to visualize the history of transformation of the original object into an abstract zoomorphic figure.” (Ielizaveta Portnova) — Now I feel like this beast assembled from the fragments of the past. The past is valuable but painful. War deprives us of our human appearance. —

2024 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale
“Loop #12” by Jing HUANG (USA/China, IAC member since 2023)
Jing HUANG – Silver Award Membre page ‘Loop’ is a series of works that indicate no beginning or end, but places an emphasis on the winding path itself. Amid the dislocation and ambiguity of being neither here nor there, I anchor myself by tracing my past and taking inspiration from the early memory of my hometown (Guilin)’s landscape after a long departure. ‘Loop’ is not only a representation of the actual landscape; it mirrors the feelings of respect and appreciation for my past, culture and tradition. It’s a process of seeking a deeper understanding of my identity and experience in the world.	Its Chinese title, ‘回,’ has several meanings in Chinese: to circle, to step back, to turn around, to return. This unique pictographic character not only represents the form of the work but also symbolizes the return to the process itself, celebrating my identity, past, and culture. (Jing HUANG)

5th Officine Saffi Award
“The Twilight Landscape” (2023) by Hanna Miadzvedzeva (Belarus, IAC member since 2021)
Hanna Miadzvedzeva – Residency Prize Gaya Ceramic Arts Center Member page This work is part of a larger series of works called “Landscapes” that I’ve been doing for the last couple of years. In the series, I portray my feelings about the places I visit – new cities and regions, natural places. I especially like observing new landscapes from a bird’s eye view, flying over them with an airplane, when forests and fields alternate with each other to create a unique textural pattern. Also a very important aspect of my perception of the surrounding area is light and the nature of its dispersion in space. Twilight is a very specific state, when in a fairly short period of time there is a transcendental transition from bright day to completely dark night.	I heard that this period of the evening is considered the most dangerous for drivers because of the so-called “twilight blindness”. Everything around us seems to be wrapped in a gray velvet – on the one hand it creates a soft, calming effect, but on the other hand there is a slight feeling of anxiety deep inside, because we are always suspicious of things that are hidden and not obvious. It is in such a state that even familiar places seem quite changed and begin to be perceived as different, unexplored and full of mystery. To convey my sense of the twilight landscape, I chose a self-contained, curved shape that feels like it’s hiding something within itself. The structure on the surface, applied in several layers with drops of stoneware slip with a rubber syringe, to create an enveloping, soft and even slightly loose effect. The dark gray color of the object is achieved by adding metal oxides to the stoneware. (Hanna Miadzvedzeva)


Prizes and Award 2023

International Biennale of Artistic Ceramics of Aveiro (17th edition)
“Balance in Red” (2023), thin plates composed of narrow strips of coloured bone China porcelain, fired in a stoneware mould, by Paula Bastiaansen.
Paula Bastiaansen – 1st Prize Member page	Separate elements that seek one another in red – a balance in continuous, perpetual motion.

Hidemi Tokutake – 2nd Prize Member page ‘Grow’ embodies the quiet force of nature as it pushes outward—layer by layer, breath by breath. Formed by hand and fired with layered glazes, the sculpture reflects unseen rhythms of growth, decay, and renewal. It is both a gesture of emergence and a meditation on the hidden life within the earth. ‘Grow’ captures the silent yet dynamic force of organic growth. The form is entirely hand-built, with intentional finger marks left on the surface to become part of the texture—echoing the motion of shaping and the bodily presence of the maker. Inspired by botanical structures and geological layering, the piece expands and twists like a living organism. Instead of layered glazes, a dry glaze is brushed directly onto the surface, allowing variations in thickness to create delicate shifts in tone, texture, and tension. These fluctuations evoke erosion, sedimentation, and the layered rhythms of nature. The work embodies a quiet dialogue between control and chance, emergence and erosion, surface and depth—a meditation on the slow, invisible forces that shape all living matter.	“Grow” (2022), Hand-built , middle range , dry glaze, oxide stains, by Hidemi Tokutake.

Blanc de Chine International Ceramic Art Award 2023
“Connected” (2021), Porcelain de Limoges, 3% eggcarton, ceramic stains, by Tinne Debruijne. Photo credit: Olivier Demessemakers
Tinne Debruijne – 1st Prize Member page CONNECTED: “My sculptures grow from intuition, shaped by the curves and rhythms I see in nature, in living things. The forms feel both sensual and abstract, clean in their larger lines yet complex in their textures. They seem to move while staying still, like water that finds its perfect shape for just one moment. I want people to feel drawn to touch them, to come closer. The work should create that immediate urge to hold and embrace, to experience it through your hands, not just your eyes. “Connected” combines Limoges porcelain with three percent egg board paper. Some sections are colored with ceramic stains, then single fired to 1280°C.	I start by building the overall form using a coiling technique, creating different shapes that work as small sculptures on their own. Then I connect these pieces intuitively, placing them in a rhythm that feels natural, like they belong together. Working with paper porcelain gives me freedom. I can reshape everything, even tear it apart completely and start fresh if the form isn’t right. Once the main form is complete, I add paper-thin slats one by one, row by row, using dental tools to place them delicately. The paper creates this frayed, textile-like surface that feels both fragile and strong. My pieces never look completely finished. They stay raw, delicate, imperfect. I’m always searching for new textures that become part of the shape itself, adding dimensions that the work needs to feel alive. Perfect in its imperfection, exactly as it should be.” (Tinne Debruijne)

“End, Begin” (2019), fabric dipped in slip, hand-built, by Ji Fan.
Fan Ji – 2nd Prize Member page This work engages with the micro-histories inscribed within personal memory, translating ephemeral domestic rituals into enduring material forms.	Textiles—once ceaselessly in motion through acts of folding, wiping, and washing—are reconstituted in ceramic, their textures fossilised into suspended surfaces. The woven cakes, poised between reality and fantasy, function as temporal monuments to unrecorded labour and the affective residues of lived experience. In freezing these fleeting gestures, the work invites reflection on the impermanence of material and the intimate layers of memory.

Miho Yatsugi – 3rd Prize “When I apply pressure with my fingers to the fine-grained, supple porcelain clay, it takes on the curve of my fingers. I connect and amplify those curves. Waves and rhythms emerge. The clay and I take turns guiding and chasing each other as we create the form.” (Miho Yatsugi)	“surge” (2021), hand-building, reduction firing at 1250 degree, by Miho Yatsugi.


Prizes and Award 2021

The 12th International Ceramics Competition Mino, Japan
“Life” by Vilma Villaverde.	Vilma Villaverde – Silver Award Member page “Life”: Recovered after being disregarded and lying underground, a piece discovered in the Shigaraki area comes to my hands. It is a urinal burned in a noborigama kiln, that had been cast aside and buried. Ceramics, enduring noble material, witness of persistence, gave itself to my potter hands to be taken back to life and resume its cycle of life into a work of art after one hundred years’ time. Reborn into a new object, it stands as the torso of a woman holding up the golden trophy of genesis. It is a woman, as it is ceramics, unutterable symbol of fertility. (Vilma Villaverde)


Korean International Ceramic Biennale (11th Edition)
Darien Arikoski-Johnson – Gold Prize Member’s page “Consciousness is bound to our physicality much like glaze is bound to clay. With which I explore the relationship between consciousness, physicality, and technology. Nonrepresentational bodily forms influence the size and shape of planar components that reside on them, mirroring how physicality affects our cognitive state. Scanned paintings, which reference memories, are digitally manipulated and fuzzed to the surface. Asking how technology influences our memory, perception, and experience of the world.” (Darien Arikoski-Johnson)	“Fragmented Framing” by Darien Arikoski-Johnson

“Homunculus LR” (2020), ceramic and glaze, slab building, by Cho Ming-Shun.
Ming-Shun Cho – Gold Prize Member’s page “Teapots are not merely objects, but episodes. While they are static functional objects on tables, when people use them the connection between organic and inorganic matter is enriching as interaction generates emotion. While brewing tea, people discover a profound connection with their teapot — akin to human-pet relationships. A close bond is created in the delicate union between a hand and handle, linked by the heat of life in the teapot. I cherish this relationship between humanity and our utensils.	This symbiosis evolves a teapot’s lifelike characteristics. A teapot and a hand combine to bring out a new life; the hand is a part of the teapot, and the teapot is a part of the hand. This symbiotic relationship is a new relationship between teapots and humans; thus, the teapot has walking feet and emotional motion making them temporal episodes rather than static objects.” (Ming-Shun Cho)


International Biennale of Artistic Ceramics of Aveiro (16th Edition)
“Big Smile”, 42 x 40 x 21cm, stoneware and porcelain, oxide and pigments, by Ellen van der Woude.
Ellen van der Woude – 1st Place Member’s page “Nature is of fundamental importance. My sculptures are a reflection of my close observation and connection to the natural world, its resilience and fragility, while also acknowledging lost links between humanity and nature. I pay tribute to the natural world and hope to remind people to slow down, reconnect with nature and contribute to its conservation.	Working intuitively, I combine different clay bodies and porcelain to create imaginative sculptures reminiscent of sub-marine sea life or blooming flora. Rather than relying on glazes, I manipulate textures, stain oxides and colour clay to add visual and tactile interest. All my work is hand built, therefore all pieces are unique. The Big Smile series were created after a long dark winter. Longing for light and sun I wanted to create something full of happiness and energy, something to make you smile and to remind you of all the good things life has to offer.” (Ellen van der Woude)

“ETA 24.06” by Marie-Josée Comello. © Eric Smeets – Fotografie
Marie-Josée Comello – 2nd Place Member’s page ” ‘ETA’ is an abbreviation used in the aviation and stands for ‘Estimated Time of Arrival’. ETA 24.06 thus refers to a fictional time of arrival. For this work I was interested in the ‘Meantime’, the moment between waking and sleeping, the twilight zone between daytime and night time. It refers to the inability of holding time, which is elusive when you want to grab it.	Research about our past and future provides us knowledge to enable ourselves to understand our place in time and space. My search deals with the disturbance of this knowledge, starting from the fascination for fragments; I am curious about the absent parts, the still not finished stories and no less the void that a fragment carries along with it. It is about the boundary between the known and the unknown, the twilight zone. There is silence on the dividing line of meanings.” (Marie-Josée Comello)