THE month of April started on a high note for members of the Fourth Estate in the form of a double invitation to the annual announcement of the 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners in the five categories of Visual Arts, Jazz, Theatre, Dance and Music – at the Artistry hub in the Sandton CBD.
Kick-starting the acknowledgements of the exceptional practitioners for the creative industry’s specific disciplines was a morning media preview in which select members would have tete-a-tete encounters with the recipients ahead of the evening’s public reveal.
Despite disclosure of the identity of the winners embargoed until after 8, nonetheless, journos were, inter alia, accorded the opportunity to delve into what made the prestigious awards adjudicators to decide on the five as the deserving 2026 cohort.
At the preview, Dr Same Mdluli, the Curator and Gallery Manager (Head) of the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg, announced that the winners were joining “the Blue Family” – in reference to the financial institution’s signature corporate colour – while notifying the gathered media that the award was not for emerging artists (the young in the award’s description oughtn’t be misconstrued as the recognition being meant for upstarts), but rather “to put the big bank machine behind them.”
For instance, the winner of the Visual Arts category, viz Kimberely-born sculptor Bronwyn Katz, will, as a perk of her prize, be able to showcase her work – which embodies forms of knowledge and considers how histories that resist traditional archives might be carried through material, gesture, and sound while proposing alternative ways of recording and transmitting communal memory – at Mdluli’s gallery, as well as at the grandiose National Arts Festival at Makhanda.
In response to my question as to what the award meant to her, the Cape Town based UCT-educated creator who has exhibited locally and internationally mentioned that she had immense respect of the accolade and described her achievement as “an honour and acknowledgement of the work she’s been doing for the past ten years.”
For Katz’s fellow Northern Cape creative and recipient of an SBYA in Theatre, the multi-award winning Kharkams-based Jason Jacobs, the award means he has arrived at a place where his ancestors and his people have seen the work that he is doing and they are being recognized – further qualifying its implication thus, “It means that theatre makers from small towns are also recognized.”
A media release issued by the Standard Bank Media Relations department describes the storyteller’s work as drawing from Nama-Khoi indigenous heritage to explore questions of identity, history, and community.
Indicative of his referencing of reality, in our interview, Jacobs mentioned one of his play, “The Dop System”, in which he explored the struggles faced by farmworkers under the apartheid-era “dop” system where workers were often paid with alcohol – keeping them trapped in cycles of exploitation and poverty.
Also being interviewed by representatives of different publications was the calm and collected saxophonist and educator Gabi Motuba.
The recipient of the coveted award in Jazz, the Mamelodi-raised musician has travelled a long way from being exposed to the genre by her dad’s Sunday morning vinyl playing, to gaining recognition for her expressive playing and innovative approach to her brand of music which incorporates elements of Afrobeat.
With the accolade, her association with the bank continues because she was part of the strongest female lineup at the 2025 Standard Bank Joy of Jazz rendezvous.
Of the triumphant pentad milling about, one who carries curious heft was the Bonteheuwel and Eldorado Park-raised LGBTQ+ dancer and Lee-ché Janecke. A self-trained choreographer, he has survived the rigours of South Africa’s homophobic attitudes – which include a scary 2013 incident in which his troupe was once attacked at a taxi hub whilst coming back from Soweto Pride – to becoming the creative director behind two-time Grammy award-winning Afropop sensation Tyla.
Responsible for the dance form which accompanied the young hitmaker’s Water – the citation for Janecke as the recipient in the Dance category acknowledges his practice as being steeped in popular choreography and global performance culture, as opposed to conventional institutions of contemporary dance.
Rounding off the quintet was eSwatini born Ndumiso Manana, a vibrant singer-songwriter whose resume includes collaboration as a songwriter on Burna Boy’s ‘Twice as Tall’ album which won Best Global Music Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
An erstwhile Drakensberg Boys Choir member and an Afrobeats exponent who has also performed at his country’s Bushfire Festival – Manana’s recognition was partly for his expansive sonic experimentation, which reflected navigation of both local and global sound worlds.
Having been fed with a plethora of canapes and finger treats during the morning preview, came early evening time when most of the gridlock along the M1 headed home for the customary nightcap – it was time to invoke the second invitation which was the moment when the winning pentad would be announced publicly for the first time inside the venue, Artistry’s auditorium.
Befitting of the calibre of occasion, Gauteng’s who’s-who’s arrived in droves and well-heeled. They included the country’s foremost female jazz radio presenters, Nothemba Madumo and KG Moeketsi; the 2014 SBYA recipient and current Market Theatre Artistic Director Gregg Homann; poet Napo Masheane; musician and boyfriend of Gabi Motuba, Tumi Mogorosi; the National Arts Festival’s Artistic Director Rulera Seethal; as well as parents and friends of the celebrated quintet.
The winners gave their emotive speeches; took time for photo opportunities; and wined and dined into the Sandton night as a toast to additional feathers in their esteemed hats!
Each award recipient will develop new work that will premiere at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda in 2026, continuing a long-standing tradition in which the award functions not only as recognition but also as a platform for artistic development and presentation.
About The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards
The National Arts Festival established the Young Artist Awards in 1981 to acknowledge emerging young South African artists who demonstrated outstanding artistic talent.
These prestigious awards are presented annually to deserving artists in different disciplines – dance, jazz, music, theatre, visual art, performance art and film – affording them national exposure and acclaim. Standard Bank took over the sponsorship of the awards in 1984 and has presented Young Artist Awards in all the major arts disciplines over their 40-year sponsorship, as well as posthumous and special recognition awards.
The winners feature on the Main Programme of the National Arts Festival in Makhanda and receive financial support for their festival participation, as well as a cash prize.
Top Image Jacob MAWELA (Gabi Motuba, the 2026 recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist award for Jazz, limned posing with her boyfriend, musician, Tumi Mogorosi, at the awards-giving event at Artistry in Sandton).
