CGS and Glass Sellers’ Charity Graduate Prize winners announced

The Contemporary Glass Society (CGS) is delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 Glass Sellers’ Graduate Prize. This prestigious competition is designed to support emerging graduates as they embark on their careers in contemporary glassmaking and is made possible thanks to the continued generosity of the Glass Sellers’ Charity and our esteemed sponsors, Creative Glass, Pearsons Glass, and Warm Glass.

Winner:

Sean Barnes (Graduating from: University of Sunderland; course: MA Visual Practice: Glass).

Sean Barnes is a glass artist whose practice is shaped by the unstable language of heat, pressure, and transformation. Volcanology has played a central role in his work, informing both his research and making through parallels between molten glass and volcanic processes. Central to this is his development of bi-phase foam glass within the hotshop, using it to create forms that stretch, fracture, and hold tension. In the ‘Hadean Cages’ series (see main image), containment becomes neither prison nor protection, but a necessary condition for change. His work uses material behaviour to explore grief, resilience, instability, and self-overcoming through forms poised near collapse.

Speaking about his prize, Sean said, “I am incredibly grateful to receive this award. It is difficult to put into words how much it means to have the work recognised in this way, particularly after a year that has involved so much uncertainty, experimentation, and self-doubt.”

Second Prize:

Jantine Koppert (Graduating from: Instituut voor Kunst en Ambacht [IKA] Belgium/Institute of Art and Craft, Belgium; course: City and Guild specialisatie van de opleiding kunstambacht glaskunst van de Beeldende en audiovisuele kunsten/City and Guild Specialisation in Glass Art within the Arts and Crafts programme of Visual and Audiovisual Arts).

Jantine Koppert is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice centres increasingly on glass. Drawing on her experience of growing up on a cut-flower nursery, she explores the complex relationships between humans, nature, care, and control. Glass offers a language through which these tensions can become tangible: fragile yet resilient, transparent yet elusive, shaped through heat, transformation, and intervention. Through an intuitive and research-led making process, material, form, and space develop in dialogue with one another. Her sculptures and installations explore vulnerability, interdependence, and connection, inviting reflection on how we shape, depend upon, and coexist with, the living systems that surround us.

Runners Up:

Tom Bennett for Desire (I, Pink) (Graduating from: Arts University Plymouth; course: BA [Hons] Craft and Material Practices);

Cynnie Leung for Towards Grace – Installation II (Graduating from: De Montfort University; course: BA [Hons] Design Crafts).

Highly Commended:

Hannah Masi for Requiem (Graduating from: University of Sunderland; course: MA Visual Practice: Glass);

Suzie Smith for Between Poison and Remedy (Graduating from University of Sunderland; course: MA Visual Practice: Glass).

Commended:

Adam Dix (Graduating from: Morley College; course: NQF BTec National Certificate in Art and Design [Glass] Level 3);

Erica Tung (Graduating from: Royal College of Art; course: MA Ceramics and Glass);

Yanjie Gao (Graduating from: University of Sunderland; course: BA [Hons] Artist Designer Maker: Glass and Ceramics);

Abigail Hopewell (Graduating from: De Montfort University; course: BA (Hons) Design Crafts);

Jessica Theobald (Graduating from: University of Wales Trinity St David; course: BA [Hons] Design Crafts);

Silvia Avila Parcet (Graduating from: Arts University Plymouth; course: MA Glass);

Penny Riley-Smith (Graduating from: University of Sunderland; course: BA [Hons] Artist Designer Maker: Glass and Ceramics);

Emma Rowe (Graduating from: De Montfort University; course: BA [Hons] Design Crafts);

Emma Mitchison (Graduating from: Manchester School of Art; course: BA [Hons] Product Design and Craft);

Kalsy Gu (Graduating from: Royal College of Art; course: MA Ceramics and Glass);

Annie Flora James (Graduating from: University of Sunderland; course: BA (Hons) Artist Designer Maker: Glass and Ceramics).

The top prize winners receive bundles including cash, coverage in the CGS/Glass Sellers’ Charity New Graduate Review magazine, vouchers and a year’s free CGS membership.

Find out more about all the winners and see more images in the full 2026 New Graduate Review magazine online via this link.

Main image: Sean Barnes’ ‘Hadean Cages I, II, III’, comprising hot glass, bi-phase glass foam and ground steel. Photo: Claire Louise Bird.