Eight Art Writers Awarded $50,000 Each in 2026 Rabkin Prize

On 10 September 2026, the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation announced the winners of the 2026 Rabkin Prize. This annual award honours eight art writers in the United States, with each recipient receiving a $50,000 cash prize. The Rabkin Prize is designed to recognise the achievements of writers who contribute significantly to the discourse around art in the US.

The 2026 cohort of Rabkin Prize winners includes a diverse group of professionals. Among them is Julia Halperin, a contributor to The Art Newspaper and former editor, who is also the co-founder of the Burns Halperin Report. The group also features 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.

Other recipients are Tyler Green, known for hosting The Modern Art Notes Podcast, and Alicia Inez Guzmán, a writer based in the Southwest. Sarah Lewis, a professor at Harvard University, is also among the winners; she is the founder of the Vision & Justice initiative and curator of a new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

Jan Tumlir, a Los Angeles-based writer and founding editor of the contemporary art journal X-TRA, is another honouree. The list of winners is completed by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, an independent journalist and critic. This selection reflects a range of backgrounds and approaches within the field of art writing.

Many of the 2026 awardees are noted for addressing issues such as politics, power, race, equity, and representation in their work, both within the art world and in broader contexts. Sarah Lewis, for example, commented on the importance of culture in societal transformation, stating that laws alone are not sufficient and that cultural work is needed to overcome societal blind spots.

The selection process for the Rabkin Prize involves a nomination system, after which an independent jury evaluates candidates based on recent work samples and resumes. 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 Rockland, Maine; and Legacy Russell, director and chief curator of The Kitchen in New York.

A series of interviews with the 2026 Rabkin Prize winners is scheduled to be made available online on 16 September. These interviews will provide further insight into the perspectives and work of the eight honoured writers.