Following a landmark Shortlist Exhibition at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum, the Vietnam Creative Awards 2026 enters its next chapter. From 9–11 October, selected Finalists will gather at Hôtel des Arts Saigon for an intimate celebration of creativity, conversation and connection, before the Awards Gala on 16 October, 2026.
FROM SHORTLIST TO FINALIST
One exhibition closes, but another chapter is already waiting to be written.
After eight days at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum, where the Vietnam Creative Awards 2026 Shortlist Exhibition brought together 120 works representing 12 nationalities, the journey now moves forward with the announcement of the Finalists.
From 9–11 October 2026, selected creative voices will present their works at Hôtel des Arts Saigon, Diamond Sponsor for Art and Hosted Venue & Hospitality Partner of the Finalist Exhibition.
For the Vietnam Creative Awards, this transition represents more than another exhibition. It is the evolution of an idea: to create a platform where creativity can be discovered, recognised and, most importantly, connected.
Under the theme Creative Voices Beyond Borders, the inaugural Awards have welcomed artists, photographers, designers, craftspeople and multidisciplinary creatives from Vietnam and around the world. Different cultures, generations and disciplines have found themselves sharing the same rooms—and often beginning conversations that might never otherwise have happened.
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At the Fine Arts Museum, those encounters became one of the most meaningful stories of the exhibition. Artists met collectors. Designers discovered potential collaborators. Diplomats, business leaders, cultural figures and guests exchanged ideas in front of works that required no common language.
Now, the Finalist Exhibition brings that conversation into a more intimate setting.
MORE THAN AN EXHIBITION
The three days at Hôtel des Arts Saigon will unfold as a wider celebration of the creative community.
The programme begins on 9 October with an Opening Cocktail introducing the Finalists and their works. Across 10 and 11 October, a series of Art Talks will create opportunities for artists, creative leaders and guests to exchange perspectives on practice, inspiration and the evolving cultural landscape.
Art will also meet gastronomy through Beyond the Frame, an exclusive charity dinner and art auction at The Albion by Kirk Westaway on 10 October. Selected artworks and collectors’ pieces will be auctioned in support of Breast Cancer Network Vietnam (BCNV), bringing another dimension to the Awards: creativity with purpose.
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The journey will culminate on 16 October, when the Vietnam Creative Awards 2026 Awards Gala reveals this year’s winners.
Yet perhaps the significance of the programme lies beyond the trophies themselves.
Vietnam’s creative landscape is changing quickly. New voices are emerging across fashion, photography, fine art, craft, material design and contemporary creative practice. Some are established names; others are only beginning to be discovered. Bringing those voices together creates not simply visibility, but possibility.
That has been at the heart of the Vietnam Creative Awards from the beginning.
A platform should offer an artist somewhere to be seen, but it should also create the conditions for something unexpected to happen: a conversation, a commission, a friendship, a collaboration or simply the confidence to continue.
From the museum walls to the ballroom of Hôtel des Arts Saigon, the first edition has already travelled further than an awards programme.
The Shortlist Exhibition may be closing, but the creative journey is far from over.
Congratulations to our Finalist Artists. New conversations are beginning, new possibilities are taking shape, and the next chapter of Vietnam Creative Awards 2026 is ready to unfold.