GIA Names Catherine Aulick 2026 Winner, Retires Buccellati Design Award

GIA presented the ninth and final Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design to Catherine "Cathy" Aulick, a graduate of the GIA Jewelry Design Course in Carlsbad. The winning entry is a hand-rendered necklace rendered in gold and set with Ethiopian opal and peridot, a combination that the judges singled out for its color dialogue and technical draftsmanship.

The award was presented Feb. 6, 2026 at the University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum in Tucson during the GIA Alumni Collective Night at the Museum, held on the closing day of the American Gem Trade Association 2026 GemFair. Twelve finalists were shortlisted for the final presentation, representing GIA Schools of Gemology and Jewelry Arts in Carlsbad, London, Mumbai, New York and Taiwan.

Aulick spoke about her process at the museum presentation: "I want to thank the Buccellati Foundation and GIA for the honor of this award. Hand rendering has given me a new and beautiful language for communicating my designs." The sketch that won the prize is described in event materials as hand rendered and composed around the play-of-color in Ethiopian opal balanced with the lime-green clarity of peridot, set within warm gold lines.

The Buccellati award was created in 2018 to recognize exceptional jewelry design talent among GIA students, and the 2026 presentation closes a nine-year run that began with the inaugural prize in 2018. Cathryn Ramirez, GIA Chief Learning Officer, reflected on the partnership and the global reach of student entrants: "It’s been a pleasure collaborating with the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation and presenting this award each year - recognizing all the wonderful talent in design among GIA students globally." GIA has announced it is planning a new design competition and that details will be shared in the near future.

As part of the prize cycle, Aulick is scheduled to travel to Italy to meet with a representative from the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation, an opportunity the foundation and GIA have arranged to connect emerging designers with artisans and archival expertise. Some event imagery and internal metadata label the design with a 2025 tag, a discrepancy with the Feb. 6, 2026 presentation date and the award’s ninth-year numbering; that inconsistency remains noted in the event materials.

The retirement of the Buccellati award marks a shift in how GIA will platform student design work, closing a chapter that produced winners from GIA campuses worldwide and opening a new phase with GIA’s forthcoming design competition. The immediate outcome is concrete: a GIA Carlsbad graduate with a hand-rendered gold, opal and peridot necklace will travel to Italy, and GIA will soon outline the next opportunity for student designers.