Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners announced
Some well-known names in the public imagination and lesser known artists form part of this year’s cohort of winners.
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
This is one award ceremony that those who are in the arts and are hard-working, would love to win. And nobody in their right mind can blame them, because winning a Standard Bank Young Artist Award has opened many a door for artists in the specific categories covered by these prestigious award over the years.
Whether it is in music, jazz, visual art, theatre or dance, the young winners have gone on to achieve feat that would have eluded them, had they not won the Standard Bank Award. The winner is given platforms to showcase their talent and shine, opening more opportunities for them, beyond visibility and exposure.
And therefore the arts sector was abuzz this week, when word filtered around that a new crop of young artists that have made a difference in the sector, were going to be crowned.
This explains why the news of the announcement was closely kept. The news was kept so secret that only those invited were informed of the venue where the announcement was going to take place in Sandton.
However the judges this year have picked a mixed bag of those that are already in public imagination as well as one or two surprises this year.
ON April, 2026, National Arts Festival (NAF), custodians of the Standard Bank Young Artist Awards (SBYA), together with their long-standing partner Standard Bank, announced the 2026 cohort, recognising a group of artists whose work reflects the expanding languages of South African art.
The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards remain one of the country’s most respected acknowledgements of creative excellence. This year’s awardees represent a cohort of artists firmly grounded in their practices and recognised by their peers, whose work moves fluidly between forms, histories, and audiences. Their selection marks a moment in which South African artists continue to expand the ways in which culture is produced, performed, and experienced, with the awards offering an added platform that supports their trajectory to the next stage of their careers.
Each of the winners will create new work that they will present at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda this year.
The 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners are:
• Bronwyn Katz – Visual Arts
• Gabi Motuba – Jazz
• Jason Jacobs – Theatre
• Lee-ché Janecke – Dance
• Ndumiso Manana – Music
Together, these artists reflect a cultural landscape in which artistic practice moves between disciplines while remaining attentive to history, place, and community.
In the visual arts category, Bronwyn Katz works through sculpture and installation to develop a speculative language that draws on land, memory, and embodied forms of knowledge. Her practice considers how histories that resist traditional archives might be carried through material, gesture and sound, proposing alternative ways of recording and transmitting communal memory.
In jazz Gabi Motuba has built an expansive body of work as a vocalist, composer, and educator whose practice moves between avant-garde experimentation and deep philosophical inquiry. Her compositions position sound as both intellectual investigation and spiritual discipline, placing music in dialogue with literature, history, and political thought.
In dance, the award recognised Lee-ché Janecke, known internationally as Litchi HOV. His practice emerges from the world of popular choreography and global performance culture rather than the conventional institutions of contemporary dance. His work, widely recognised through collaborations across the music industry and large-scale performance platforms, reflects how choreography now travels across digital culture, stadium stages, and international audiences.
Completing the cohort is Ndumiso Manana the award recipient for music. A singer, songwriter and producer, Manana’s repertoire spans electronic, R&B, Afrobeat and acoustic traditions.
“Through the Standard Bank Artist awards we continue to support artists who are shaping the cultural landscape in real time. The 2026 recipients reflect the depth of creative output in South Africa today,” said Bonga Sebesho, Group Head of Sponsorship at Standard Bank.
“Congratulations to the 2026 Young artists….,”said Monica Newton, CEO of National Festival.