Winner of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Grand Prize Winner Announced + People’s Choice Award Winner, + Honourable Mentions Announced!

Grand Prize Winner of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Announced + People’s Choice Award Winner + Honourable Mentions Announced!

We hope you have enjoyed our week of reveals! The Winners of each Award – BearWolf Books Emerging Artist Award, Sculpture Award, INPRNT Digital Art Award, 33PA Drawing Award, MPB Photography Award, Catherine K. Gyllerstrom Imaginative Realism Award and RAYMAR Painting Award have now been announced. Aren’t they all incredible?

Now it’s time for the biggest reveal yet! Below we unveil the Grand Prize Winner of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, Honourable Mentions, and the 2026 Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award Winner, which saw our amazing community contribute 14,835 votes from 113 Countries!

Thank you to everyone that voted for the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award! We sincerely appreciate your opinions!

Our thanks

We would like to once again thank the Jury Panel for giving their time and expertise this year: Ed Binkley (Drawing juror), Bastien Lecouffe Deharme (Digital Art juror), Matthias Verginer (Sculpture juror), Brad Kunkle (Painting juror), and Franz Szony (Photography juror), along with Vicki Fox, Owner of Quirky Fox Gallery (Emerging Artist Category Juror), Patrick Wilshire, Co-Founder of IX Arts and IX Gallery (Imaginative Realism Category Juror), April Carter, Curator at PoetsArtists and 33 Contemporary Gallery (Drawing Category Juror); and Co-owner & Director of Modern Eden Gallery, Kim Larson.

It is thanks to all of our passionate sponsors, particularly our major sponsors: RAYMAR, BearWolf Books, 33PA, INPRNT, and MPB – that the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is able to give artists from all over the world the opportunity to gain visibility, recognition, and validation. Each year, the Prize inspires thousands of creatives and alters the trajectory of their careers through vital exposure, funding, and industry acclaim.

Finally, we would like to thank the incredible Beautiful Bizarre team for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the prize and winners all-year round. Administering the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize is a huge undertaking, but well worth the effort for the opportunities it provides to our community.

Beautiful Bizarre Magazine will continue our work to ensure that the 2027 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize adds even more value to artists globally. The 2027 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will open entries in February 2027, so to ensure you don’t miss the news, please join our email mailing list here. If you are a brand or philanthropist that would like to become a champion of the arts by supporting next year’s Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, please email our Deputy Editor Natalia Joruk who would love to chat to you regarding how we can collaborate.

‘Glimmer’ Exhibition

The winners of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize will be invited to participate in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition ‘Glimmer’ at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA, United States, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists!

Grand Prize Winner of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize

The Grand Prize Award Winner will receive:

$10,000 USD cash, donated by our Platinum sponsors Catherine K. Gyllerstrom, Bearwolf Books, INPRNT, RAYMAR, 33PA and MPB.
A beautiful, specially commissioned glass art award trophy.
The opportunity to exhibit in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Magazine exhibition at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, USA, alongside 100+ of the world’s best contemporary representational artists.
Exposure to a successful commercial gallery’s collector base with the opportunity to sell their work.
10 page in-depth interview editorial published in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine December 2026 issue.
Winning artwork printed in the December 2026 issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, as part of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize editorial.
Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
12 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social media platforms).
A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

Winner of the Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award

The Art & Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award Winner will receive:

$1,000 USD cash, generously donated by Art & Fable Puzzle Company. Art & Fable Puzzle Company’s mission is simple: to kindle curiosity and ignite enthusiasm for visual art, through the simple and profound pleasure of puzzling.
12 month social media advertising package (Beautiful Bizarre Magazine: 2 million+ followers across all social media platforms).
Exclusive in-depth interview published on the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine websites + shared across Beautiful Bizarre Magazine social media.
Profile listing [including artwork gallery] on the Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory for 12 months. The go-to platform for artists, curators and collectors to discover exceptional artists and explore their work.
A year’s worth of inspiration – a print subscription to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
Plus most importantly, receive worldwide exposure for their practice.

Winners & Honourable Mentions

So without further ado, it is with great pleasure and much pride that we share with you the Grand Prize Winner of the 2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, the Winner of the Art and Fable Puzzle Company People’s Choice Award, and Honourable Mentions in each Award category.

2026 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize
Grand Prize Winner

Kris Lewis

Currently resides: USA

“Sprung”, Oil on wood, 40 x 30″

Kris Lewis (b. 1978, Jackson Township, New Jersey) is a contemporary realist painter whose work is deeply rooted in personal experience and family heritage. Growing up on the Jersey Shore in a large family with seven brothers and one sister, Lewis was shaped by a household full of love, conflict, beauty, and tradition. His mother, a Latvian immigrant who fled communist forces as a young child to come to the US, raised the children alone after his parents’ separation. She taught him the value of hard work and dedication while passing on a profound love for their Latvian cultural heritage, which remains an enduring influence in his art. Lewis studied illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After college he lived in Los Angeles for several years, where his career gained international momentum. In 2013, he moved back to New Jersey to be closer to his family and marry the love of his life. He is a devoted husband and father and currently lives in Fair Haven, New Jersey, where he continues to create paintings that explore emotion, identity, and the human story.

“Sprung “ Sprung can be understood as an exploration of the subjects inner emotional world rather than a literal scene. Its dreamlike imagery suggests themes of introspection, transformation, vulnerability, and the unconscious mind, inviting the viewer to look beyond appearances.