Jaguar, in collaboration with the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, has unveiled the shortlist to mark the second year of the Jaguar Awards – an initiative celebrating bold originality in artistic practice.
The RCA – one of the world’s leading institutions for art and creativity, has a long history of nurturing talent that has gone on to shape culture globally.
The Jaguar Awards are open to students across all RCA multidisciplinary programmes, with 20 selected for their forward-thinking creativity and bold experimentation – an ethos that sits at the forefront of Jaguar’s brand reimagining today, and instilled by its founder, Sir William Lyons who believed that ‘A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing’.
On 1 July, five winners will be announced at the Jaguar Awards. Each will receive a pivotal creative grant to fuel their independent practices, with one exceptional graduate gaining the ultimate distinction – the Lyons Award and £20,000.
The final five will be judged by a panel made up of Jaguar’s creative team, and experts from diverse artistic fields. This includes Gus Casley Hayford, Director of V&A East, recognised for his curatorial leadership and deep expertise in culture, heritage and contemporary artistic discourse; and London-based visual artist, Lakwena Maciver, known for her bold, text-driven murals and immersive public works.
Alongside them, artist, sculptor and 2025 Jaguar Award winner, Jobe Burns, who since completing his MA in Sculpture at the RCA has had work featured in Architectural Digest and was recently named among the finalists for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2026. The financial award from Jaguar has been instrumental in enabling him to relocate to a large studio space in the Midlands and to scale his early-career practice.
MEET THE 20 SHORTLISTED ARTISTS
The 20 shortlisted artworks mirror Jaguar’s refusal to imitate and values of innovation, distinctiveness, and disruption. From painting to sculpture, contemporary art practice to jewellery, ceramics and research programmes, each submission serves as a bold expression of the artist’s point of view – untethered by tradition and driven by authenticity and artistic conviction.
A selection of the shortlisted works will be on display, alongside graduating students’ work, at this year’s Royal College of Art School of Arts and Humanities Show between 18 and 21 June at its Battersea campus, London.
Rawdon Glover, Managing Director, Jaguar, said: “To be shortlisted for the Jaguar Awards is to demonstrate the courage to create something truly original. These 20 emerging creative voices have produced distinctive works that are impossible to ignore. Our collaboration with RCA is about championing those who bring a fresh, vivid point of view to the world. That spirit of fearless creativity has always been at the heart of Jaguar and continues to shape our enduring commitment to celebrating and supporting those who share that same drive for originality.”
Christoph Lindner, President and Vice-Chancellor of the RCA, said:”The Royal College of Art empowers its students to become the world’s most influential artists and designers. It is both a creative space and a global community for the thought leaders and makers of tomorrow to envision and shape the future. This is especially visible at JLR, where so many RCA alumni work in design, materials and engineering and I am excited to continue our collaboration. This year’s Jaguar Awards shortlist is again testament to what can be accomplished when the boundaries of imagination are combined with true originality.”
Jobe Burns, the first-ever winner of the Jaguar Award in 2025 for his work ‘Intimate Conversation’, a sculpture of two steel bodies held in silent dialogue, said: “Winning the award last year provided a vital layer of support at a pivotal transitional moment. Practically, it allowed me to establish a large-scale studio space in the Midlands, giving me the physical footprint required to interrogate form of my sculpture and scale my practice. To be recognised in that context at a moment when I am building the foundations of a long-term practice feels both encouraging and deeply affirming.
“Moving onto the jury panel this year, I’m keen to champion the next cohort of RCA graduates who are taking genuine material risks. I hope to offer a perspective that is both generous and attentive to originality. In an environment where space and time to experiment are increasingly difficult to hold onto, raw institutional and brand support remains vital.”
Jaguar’s transformation is defined by Exuberant Modernism, a creative philosophy that underpins all aspects of the new Jaguar brand world. It embraces bold designs, unexpected and original thinking, creating a brand character that will command attention through fearless creativity.