2026 Arts Awards Winners

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.

A dancer in a red top and light pants strikes a graceful pose against a swirling background of dynamic, colorful light trails

2026 Louis Sudler Prize:

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.

Arts Departments & Programs Awards

Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies

Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Visual Art Award

Sue and Lee Noel Prize in Visual Arts

Nancy Kaneb Art History Award

Visual Studies Initiative Award 

Cinematic Arts Outstanding Filmmaker Award 

About the Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies Awards →

Center for Documentary Studies

Julia Harper Day Award

About the Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies →

Creative Writing

Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Fiction

Reynolds Price Fiction Award

George P. Lucaci Creative Nonfiction Award

Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Poetry

Terry Welby Tyler, Jr Award for Poetry

Academy of American Poets

About the Creative Writing Awards →

Dance Program

Dance Writing Award

Clay Taliaferro Award

Julia Wray Award

Dance Projects Awards

About the Dance Awards →

Department of Music

The Ann Marie Parsons Memorial Prize

The William Klenz Prize in Music Composition

The Henry Schumann Music Prize

The Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music

The Ciompi Quartet Award in Chamber Music

The Paul Bryan Award

The Duke Symphony Orchestra Conductor’s Award

About the Department of Music Awards →

Theater Studies

Alex Cohen Award

Feldman Collaborator’s Award

Forlines Family Theater Studies Grant

Award for Excellence in Acting

Award for Excellence in Directing

Award for Excellence in Theater Technology

Award for Excellence in Theater Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater

Reynolds Price Award

John M. Clum Distinguished Theater Studies Graduate Award

About the Department of Theater Studies Awards →

Benenson Awards in the Arts

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.