Each year, Duke students are recognized for outstanding achievement in the arts through awards presented by the university’s arts departments and programs. Featured below is the Louis Sudler Prize winner, awarded to the graduating senior who has demonstrated the most distinguished record of excellence in performance or creation, along with the 2026 departmental award recipients and this year’s Benenson Awards in the Arts recipients.
Michela Arietti
Graduating Program II major, with a self-designed course of study spanning Neuroscience, Dance, and Nutrition, Michela Arietti has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize.
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Visual Art Award
Jordan Moyd ’26
Sue and Lee Noel Prize in Visual Arts
Lexie Belgrad ’26 & Felix Zhu ’26
Nancy Kaneb Art History Award
Cristina Mitchell ’25 & Brooke Hira ’26
Visual Studies Initiative Award
Brooke Hira ’26
Cinematic Arts Outstanding Filmmaker Award
Yurina Shirai ’26
About the Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies Awards →
Julia Harper Day Award
Dhruv Rungta ’26
About the Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies →
Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Fiction
Davis Shedd ’27 & Audie Waller ’28
Reynolds Price Fiction Award
Sarah Pusser ’28
George P. Lucaci Creative Nonfiction Award
1st Place: Vivian Lu ’29; 2nd Place: Arim Lim, ’26 & Debbie Wang, ’28
Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Poetry
1st Place: Adolya Moore ’26; 2nd Place: Zhiyuan Mark Ma ’26
Terry Welby Tyler, Jr Award for Poetry
Matthew Chen ’26
Academy of American Poets
Emerson Eickhold ’28
Honorable Mention: Ava Williams ’28
About the Creative Writing Awards →
Dance Writing Award
Ida London ’27 & Rogelio Miranda Mora ’26
Clay Taliaferro Award
Caroline Brecke ’27
Julia Wray Award
Aissatou Diallo ’26
Dance Projects Awards
Alexa Lattanze ’29 & Michela Arietti ’26
The Ann Marie Parsons Memorial Prize
Alexia Scotiniadis ’29
The William Klenz Prize in Music Composition
Mozhgan Chahian Boroojeni ‘28 (Ph.D. Candidate in Music Composition)
The Henry Schumann Music Prize
Barron Brothers ’26 & Abraham Palmer ’26
The Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music
Claire Hardek ’26 & Marina Varriano ’26
The Ciompi Quartet Award in Chamber Music
Kayla Cao ’26, Myra Han ’26, Jackson Streit ’26, & Emily Wu ’26
The Paul Bryan Award
Ismael Alvarez ’26, Tyler Sheu ’26, & Sarah Willmann ’26
The Duke Symphony Orchestra Conductor’s Award
Noella Barron ’26, Andrew Guthrie ’26, Hailey Kasney ’26, Ava Meigs ’26, & Abraham Palmer ’26
About the Department of Music Awards →
Alex Cohen Award
Lilah Gorfain ’27
Feldman Collaborator’s Award
Elizabeth Yu ’28
Forlines Family Theater Studies Grant
Skylar Dunn ’29
Award for Excellence in Acting
Madeleine Dean ‘26 & Alaina Guo ‘26
Award for Excellence in Directing
John Ryan Cassidy ‘26, Ally Doss ‘26, & Caroline Edmondson ‘26
Award for Excellence in Theater Technology
Annabel Lee ‘26
Award for Excellence in Theater Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater
Seneca Russell ‘26
Reynolds Price Award
John Ryan Cassidy ‘26 & Skylar Dunn ‘29
John M. Clum Distinguished Theater Studies Graduate Award
Caroline Edmondson ’26
About the Department of Theater Studies Awards →
Each year, Duke University awards Benenson Awards in the Arts, which provide funding for arts-centered projects proposed by undergraduates. This year, the Student Arts Award Committee awarded prizes to fourteen students.
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