Eight Art Writers Awarded $50,000 Rabkin Prizes in 2026

On 10 September 2026, the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation announced the winners of its annual Rabkin Prize. This award honours eight art writers in the United States, each of whom receives a $50,000 cash prize for their recent work. The 2026 recipients represent a diverse group of professionals, including academics, journalists, podcasters, and curators.

Among the honourees is Julia Halperin, contributor and former editor at The Art Newspaper and co-founder of the Burns Halperin Report. Other winners include Damien Davis, an artist and writer based in New Jersey, and Melaine Ferdinand-King, the inaugural curator of the African American Museum of Rhode Island. Tyler Green, known for The Modern Art Notes Podcast, and Alicia Inez Guzmán, a writer based in the Southwest, are also recognised.

Sarah Lewis, a professor at Harvard University, founder of the Vision & Justice initiative, and curator of a new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, is among the awardees. Jan Tumlir, based in Los Angeles and founding editor of the contemporary art journal X-TRA, and independent journalist and critic Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, complete the list of this year’s winners.

Many of the 2026 awardees address themes such as politics, power, race, equity, and representation in their work, both within the art world and beyond. Sarah Lewis, for example, highlighted the importance of cultural work in driving societal change, noting that legal reforms alone are not sufficient.

Candidates for the Rabkin Prize are selected through a nomination process. An independent jury reviews recent work samples and resumes to determine the winners. The 2026 jury consisted of Irene Borger, founding director of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts; Jaime DeSimone, chief curator at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine; and Legacy Russell, director and chief curator of The Kitchen in New York.

A series of interviews with the prize recipients is scheduled to be published online on 16 September, offering further insight into their perspectives and contributions.