Sergio Lugo of Santa Clara Pueblo Takes Top Honor at 104th Annual Market

SANTA FE, N.M., Aug. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Potter Sergio Lugo of Santa Clara Pueblo was named winner of the 2026 Best of Show at the Santa Fe Indian Market for his Floating Melon Bowl, a coil-built pot made of hand-dug clay, outdoor-fired, burnished with a mica slip, and stone-polished. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) announced the honor today alongside this year’s Best of Classification and Special Award winners.

Best of Show is the highest distinction awarded at Santa Fe Indian Market, reserved for the single work judged best among the Best of Classification winners across all ten juried categories.

“I failed a lot making this piece. This is the fourth try! I was going to give up and try again next year, but I decided to dedicate my whole summer so I could complete this piece. I am happy that I pushed past those failures. I am honored to represent Santa Clara Pueblo and to continue making traditional pottery as my ancestors did,” said artist Sergio Lugo.

Over 150 judges and volunteers, made up of Native American art experts, academics and peer artists, convened Thursday, August 13, to review, assist, and critique this year’s entries against SWAIA’s Best of Show classification standards — the framework that has shaped how Native art is juried at Indian Market for more than a century. The Best of Show, Best of Class, and Special Award winners were announced at the Best of Show Ceremony this morning, Friday, August 14.

This year’s award-winning artwork will be available this weekend, August 15 and 16, during the 104th annual Santa Fe Indian Market.

2026 Best of Classification Winners:

Class I: Jewelry

Winner: Jack Tom (Diné)

Title: Dragonfly

Dimensions: 13″

Materials: Sandcast 14K Gold, Mediterranean and Pacific coral, Cocobolo wood and black jet.

Booth: PLZ 46

Class II: Pottery 

Winner: Sergio Lugo (Santa Clara Pueblo)

Title: Floating Melon Bowl

Dimensions: 4.5″ x 9.5″

Materials: Hand-dug clay, coil-built, stone-polished, outdoor fired, mica slip.

Booth: LIN W 730

Description: 4-sided Melon Bowl with Kiva step lid 

Class III: Painting, Drawing, Graphics & Photography

Winner: Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo)

Title: Life

Dimensions: 50″ x 38″

Materials: Acrylic, gold leaf, and silver leaf

Description: Self-portrait of a Pueblo story. My life of ups and downs guided by the Universe, heartbreak, battles spiritually and physically— this life.

Booth: LIN E 730

Class IV: Wooden Pueblo Figurative Carving & Sculpture

Winner: Arthur Holmes, Jr. (Hopi)

Title: Eototo

Dimensions: 35″ x 9″

Materials: Roots of the cottonwood tree, carving knives, Dremel, firewood burner, sandpaper, and oil paint.

Description: Father of all Kachinas standing next to the counterpart of the village.

Booth: PAL N 219

Class V: Sculpture 

Winner: Felix Vigil (Jicarilla Apache)

Title: Realm of the Rainmaker

Dimensions: 20″ x 32″ x 28″

Materials: Cast bronze

Description: Spirit being holding lightning bolt and thunder in front of a rainbow with parrot feathers.

Booth: LIN E 769

Class VI: Textiles

Winner: Lola Cody (Navajo Nation)

Title: Transition

Dimensions: 40″ x 66 ¾”

Materials: 2-ply aniline-dyed wool. Woven on a Navajo vertical loom.

Description: Rug has two-sided wide ruin at both ends, transitions into Burntwater and Eye Dazzler.

Booth: LIN W 733

Class VII: Diverse Arts

Winners: Jolene Bird (Santo Domingo) and Tonya June Rafael (Navajo Nation) Collaboration

Title: Harry and Anabella / Man-n-Lady Inlay Dolls

Dimensions: Harry: 24″ x 6″ x 6″

Anabella: 28″ x 12″ x 9″

Materials: Wood, Nevada turquoise, green serpentine, coral necklaces, silver necklace, silver purse, turquoise sunglasses, serpentine hat.

Booth: Jolene Bird (PLZ 93) and Tonya June Rafael (FR S 307)

Class VIII: Beadwork & Quillwork

Winner: Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty (Dakota / Nakoda)

Title: Tatąga Hųgá (Bull Chief Assiniboine/Nakoda)

Dimensions: 36″ x 16″

Materials: Artisanally processed and naturally dyed porcupine quillwork, five different techniques, flat-stitched beadwork, lazy-stitched beadwork, ribbon work on sewn-edged wool, brain-tanned buckskin, moosehide, deer rawhide

Description: Traditional Medicine Carrying Bag

Booth: WA W 417

Class IX: Youth (Artists aged 17 and under)

Winner: Aydrian Day (Ho-Chunk/Anishinaabe/Lakota)

Title: Wambli Gleska Win

Dimensions: 37″ x 42″ x 12″

Materials: Lakota penny dress on gold American broad cloth adorned with drilled pennies, ribbons, and Cheyenne pink vintage beadwork with quilled dragonflies and lightning designs.

Booth: LIN W 750

Class X: Basketry

Winner: Caleb Hoffman (Cherokee/Penobscot)

Title: Perseverance

Dimensions: 8 ½” x 10″

Materials: Hand-harvested black ash and sweetgrass.

Description: Traditional Wabanaki basketry and folded weave.

Booth: SFT P 524

2026 Special Award Winners:

Excellence in Traditional Hopi Carvings: Eric Kayquaptewa (Hopi)

Excellence in Contemporary Hopi Carvings: Arthur Holmes, Jr. (Hopi)

Native American Art Magazine Editor’s Choice: Jared Tso (Diné)

Bernard Ewell Innovation Award: Katrina Mitten (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma)

The Trade Roots Excellence in Lapidary Raw Materials Award: Ernest Benally (Navajo Nation)

Mark Tahbo Traditional Pottery Memorial Award: Delmar Polacca (Hopi)

Tony Da’ Memorial Award: Russell Sanchez (San Ildefonso Pueblo)

Make Me Smile Student Award: Kilie Johnston (Aleut)

Margaret Tafoya Memorial Award: Chris Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya (Santa Clara Pueblo)

Sara Fina Tafoya Memorial Award: Daniel Begay (Santa Clara Pueblo)

Mela Youngblood Memorial Award: Sergio Lugo (Santa Clara Pueblo)

Oqwa Pi Memorial Award for Excellence in Traditional Pueblo Painting: Thomas Tapia (Tesuque Pueblo)

Anita Day Memorial Award to Encourage the Work of a Youth Potter: Jaquelyn Patricio (Acoma Pueblo)

Dominique Toya Memorial Award Excellence in Pueblo Pottery: Rochelle Medlock (Santa Clara Pueblo)

IAIA Alumni Award: Golga Oscar (Yup’ik Nation)

IPCC Excellence in Pottery Award: Lorraine Gala-Lewis (Laguna/Taos/Hopi)

The Santa Fe Indian Market’s Best of Show Ceremony was generously sponsored by JoAnn and Bob Balzer; the Best of Show Luncheon was sponsored by the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA); and the top prize—Best of Show—is proudly sponsored by the Medicine Man Gallery and Sublette Family Foundation. SWAIA is grateful for these sponsorships.

“Winning a Best of Classification is already a remarkable achievement — it means a group of distinguished judges made up of peer artists and experts in the field have deemed that artist’s work the finest in its category, among an extraordinarily accomplished field. When one of those classification winners goes on to be named Best of Show, it means their work was judged the finest across every discipline at the market throughout all ten classifications. It’s the highest distinction Santa Fe Indian Market awards, and reflects a standard SWAIA has upheld since 1922,” said Jamie Schulze, SWAIA Executive Director.

The complete list of award winners will be posted on swaia.org on or before Monday, August 17, 2026.

About SWAIA: 

The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) is a non-profit organization supporting Native American arts and culture. It creates economic and cultural opportunities for Native American artists by producing and promoting the Santa Fe Indian Market —the biggest and most prestigious Native art event in the world since 1922. SWAIA cultivates excellence and innovation across traditional and non-traditional art forms and develops programs and events that support, promote and honor Native American artists year-round. swaia.org

IG: santafeindianmarket

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SOURCE Southwestern Association for Indian Arts