Tourmaline Necklace Wins Best in Show at Jewelers of America CASE Awards

Birthstone jewelry looked less like a formula and more like a family portrait at Jewelers of America’s CASE Awards, where a 201.64-carat cabochon tourmaline necklace took Best in Show in the retail category. Set with 6.63 carats of accent diamonds, the piece from Kennedy’s Jewelers, designed by Trisha Kennedy-Thompson, made a persuasive case for color layering over single-stone symmetry.

That is the direction custom birthstone jewelry is heading: richer, more personal, and far less literal. Tourmaline, with its pink, green and bi-color range, is especially suited to that shift. A necklace built from cabochons in multiple hues reads like a conversation among birth months, children, anniversaries and private milestones, rather than a solitary token pinned to one date on the calendar.

The 2026 CASE Awards, announced by Jewelers of America on May 7, recognized 10 first-place winners selected by a panel of design experts. The competition, which stands for Creativity, Artistry, Style and Excellence, was open to employees of JA member companies and MJSA members, with entries accepted from February 9 through March 20. Finalists advanced through a two-part judging process that began with virtual pre-judging and ended with physical submissions, and judges weighed overall design, marketability, wearability and quality of manufacture.

The supplier Best in Show winner pushed the same impulse toward artistry in a different register. Renisis, designed by Sardwell, won for a Double Bullet Diamond Ring featuring two rose-cut bullet diamonds totaling 4.09 carats. Where the tourmaline necklace relied on abundance and chromatic variety, the ring showed the appeal of edited tension, proving that custom birthstone-inspired design does not need maximalism to feel personal.

That range is precisely what makes the CASE Awards useful as a style barometer. Jewelers of America said winners receive a customized trophy, national trade and consumer media exposure, and social and digital marketing support, but the real reward is the signal these pieces send about what luxury clients want now: jewelry with a narrative, not just a birth month attached.

Amanda Gizzi of Jewelers of America said the CASE Awards are one of the most meaningful ways the organization celebrates artistry and design excellence within its membership, and the addition of MJSA members broadens the spotlight across the unified organization. That broader field matters. The competition, which began in 1990 and has now run for more than 35 years, remains a rare place where custom work can be judged on imagination as much as finish.

In a year when 2025’s competition drew more than 150 entries across eight categories, the 2026 winners underscored a sharper truth: the most compelling birthstone pieces are no longer rigidly matched to a month. They are composed like fine jewelry first, and family story second, which is exactly why they feel worth keeping.