2026 USU Creative Awards

Written By Tesha Malott

2026 USU Creative Awards
Curated by Soha Tasmani
24 August - 25 September, 2026

Public Programs
Small glitchy and distorted photo of a rail road over a dark background, with white text under reading: "Feeling the thrill of understanding".

Andrew Robards, Terminal Velocity, 2024, video still. Image courtesy of the artist.

Open to all students at the University of Sydney (USYD), the annual USU Creative Awards is Australia’s largest cross-disciplinary art prize in the Australian university sector, highlighting the very best of visual arts, short film, writing and music from our student body.

Acting as a microcosm of the artistic student community on campus, the USU 2026 Creative Awards exhibition at Verge Gallery is a great place to immerse yourself in the works of Sydney’s up-and-coming artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers, and gain insight into the perspectives of our next generation of student creatives.

Visit the exhibition and vote for your favourite works in-person at Verge from 24 August – 25 September, 2026.

 

Calling all USU Members! 

Vote below for your favourite works across the four categories and be in to win an Art Gallery of New South Wales membership for you and a friend! Voting is open until 12pm on 23 September - submit yours below:

Vote now: USU Member's Choice



Sign up to become a member of USU here. 

The USU Creative Awards are divided into the categories Art, Music, Word and Short Film, with each category awarding the following prize amounts:

1st Prize: $2000
2nd Prize: $1500
Member’s Choice: $500

Winners from all categories will be announced on 24 September, 2026.

Online Exhibition

Close up image with warm lighting of a man wearing a cap looking downward with a serious expression.

Gang Li, The Restorer, 2026, video still. Image courtesy of the artist.

Art

Music

Word

Short Film

The views in this exhibition are not necessarily the views of USU. The information contained within the Creative Awards Word publication was correct at the time of publication.

Curatorial Statement
By Soha Tasmani 

As the curator of this year's USU Creative Awards, I was privileged to be presented with so many exceptional works. Present across the four categories, each work is infused with the finalists’ distinct style and practice. Although varying in subject matter, many of the works are grounded in personal experience and navigate socio-political events pertinent to young people, USYD students in particular. USU Creative Awards 2026 highlights works that explore a vast range of themes; including place, technology and the digital realm, resilience, memory, identity and transcension.  

Left to right. Glass sculpture of a cardboard package. Suspended colourful stained glass window frame. Large sculpture of an abstract windmill with orange and yellow sails with black text, tied to blocks on the floor.

Left: Estelle Yoon, 우체국 소포 (Post Office Parcel), 2026, Bronze float glass, packing tape, 332x480x357mm. Middle: Iris Cuddy, The View Inside, 2026. Glass, lead cane, photographic decal and wood, 110 x 60 x 19 mm. Right: Ruby Stephens-Naughton, Tomorrow’s Problem, 2026. Wood, sandstone, fabric, wool, 1500 x 1500 mm.

These are the threads that bind the diverse works. 

Left to right. Futuristic photo series in blue monotone. Fragmented wooden chair statue with spikes. Painting of person lying in bed, surrounded by darkness, only illuminated by the light from their screen.

Left: Boris Zhang, The Flicker Adrift in Electric Blue, 2025. Digital photographs printed on paper, 950 x 850mm. Middle: Cian Stroemer, The Chair, 2026. Salvaged oak barstools, 1150 x 600 x 500mm. Right: Ding Gao, The benefit of rest, 2026. Oil on canvas, 609 x 1219mm.

Installation view. A purple and orange landscape painting on the wall, with a white paper sculpture of a train carriage interior suspended in front, as though the painting is the view outside the train window.

Clydine Carboni, come back, i wanna go for a drive to white hills, 2026. Oil on canvas, paper, perspex, tape and glue, 920 × 530 × 200mm.

These threads also bind us, the viewer, to the collective experience as we rarely traverse the world alone. We inherit gestures, stories, rituals, and ways of viewing from our community, often without noticing where they begin or when they become our own. Despite the competitive nature of the show, all works are interlinked, because above else we are human.  

Left to right: 3 sculptures of dyed, patterened fabric in blue, beige and brown on a wall, connected to a speaker on the floor. Suspended window with white frame and text engraving. Suspended round copper sculpture.

Left: Noah Mair, Armoured Letter, 2026. Photographic dye process on canvas, speaker components, amplifier, sound source, 600 x 3200 x 80 mm. Middle: Edwina Darling, My Wound Is My Hope, 2026. Wood and glass, 680 x 810 x 50mm. Right: Phoebe Webb, Formal matters, 2026. Copper sheet, copper wire and nylon string, 180 x 180 x 97mm.

Glass sculpture of package. Framed ink drawing of octopus. Large abstract painting with gold leaf, with drawings of eyes, crows & standing figures. Blue, yellow & red sculpture of a pillory in the style of a children's toy.

Left to right: Ding Gao, The benefit of rest, 2026. Oil on canvas, 609 x 1219mm. Estelle Yoon, 우체국 소포 (Post Office Parcel), 2026. Bronze glass, packing tape, 332 x 480 x 357mm. Izabelle Valencia, Tender, 2026. Pen on paper, 500 x 400 mm. Hillary Monckton, I am Surveilled, 2026. Plywood substrate, acrylic and watercolour, pencil, markers, synthetic gold foil, sagamoto paste, laser photocopied ‘paste-ups', 1200 x 1200 x 15 mm. Myles Donnelly, A Learning Experience, 2025, acrylic, wood, 4WD suspension, 3D print PLA. 1000mm x 150 mm x 680mm.

Our experiences can feel ordinary, sometimes uncomfortable, yet they form much of the material through which artists make sense of the world around them. Art takes shape as a vessel for these experiences, carrying fragments of memory, identity, connection, and resilience from one person to another. It gives what is often felt privately somewhere an opportunity to see the light. 

Hanging window, pantyhose & glass and copper works. Wall: Pink print with ID photos. 6 blue photos with glass. 2 large blue ink portraits. 3 framed landscape photos. Textile with small print. Collage of paper on wire mesh.

Left to right: Edwina Darling, My Wound Is My Hope, 2026. Wood and glass, 680 x 810 x 50mm. Gin Zhang, All the Eyes I’ve had to Meet, 2025. Print, dimensions variable. Celina Henke, Close up, Breathe Through the Glass, 2025. Glass and prints, 480 x 635 x 40mm. Yiwon Wu, Trace: You (detail), 2026. Blown glass, pantyhose, 2000 x 1300 x 150 cm. Phoebe Webb, Formal matters, 2026. Copper sheet, copper wire and nylon string, 180 x 180 x 97mm. Sophia Zhao, Blue Homage (qīng chū yú lán), 2025. Ballpoint pen on Stonehenge paper, 760 × 1680 mm. Charlie Boobar, Follow the signs, 2026. Nikon FM1 Film Camera, Fujifilm ISO400, 210 x 140mm. Ayesnur Kara, My mother/s tongue, 2025. CMYK screen print on fabric, 455 x 290 mm. Katrina Jelavic, Fading Facades, 2025. Graphite on paper, wire mesh, cotton thread, 670 x 980 x 3mm.

On the floor, metal frame artwork of an alter with a cross on the back. On the wall behind, screenprint of nature with gaps in a geometric pattern and abstract ceramic sculptures akin to chair and crib frames.

Left: Ginia Caldwell, This Is Where I [Should] Pray, 2026. Mild steel, stainless steel, 900 x 1500 x 600 mm. Middle: Claudia Padman, Neighbourhood, 2026. CMYK screenprint on paper made from suburban tree bark, 707 x 1000 x 2 mm. Right: Alexia Fisher, Self Portrait (Mother, Son, Foetus), 2025. Mid fire clay, bleach on cotton, dimensions variable.

Hanging textile work on wall. Print of a woman standing at a counter and Turkish text in the bottom left corner of a white towel, with pink and green floral embroidery at the top.

Ayesnur Kara, My mother/s tongue, 2025. CMYK screen print on fabric, 455 x 290 mm.

I recognised I was in the presence of something special as I delved into the technicalities behind the shortlisted works. Looking at art is an easy way to open the window into a realm of ideas and emotions that were previously foreign to me. Each work had a journey before coming together at Verge, as a show which is a whole thing itself.  

Left to right. Children's toy style pillory. Sculpture of a brick on top of a small stained-glass house with trans flag, warping the roof. Sitting on top of a table with light from below.

Left to right: Ruby Stephens-Naughton, Tomorrow’s Problem, 2026. Wood, sandstone, fabric, wool, 1500 x 1500 mm. Myles Donnelly, A Learning Experience, 2025, acrylic, wood, 4WD suspension, 3D print PLA. 1000mm x 150 mm x 680mm. Cian Stroemer, The Chair, 2026. Salvaged oak barstools, 1150 x 600 x 500mm. Ding Gao, The benefit of rest, 2026. Oil on canvas, 609 x 1219mm. Xavier Marz, UNDER PRESSURE, 2026. Kiln formed, screen printed and stained glass, brick, table, light, 1000 x 460 x 460 mm.

Whether you’re a student, USYD staff member or part of the community, sign up to become a member of USU here.

Tesha Malott
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