The IPG Award
Sponsored by the Institute of Professional Goldsmiths
We are delighted to announce an enhanced partnership with our long-term supporters, The Institute of Professional Goldsmiths, as Special Patrons to the GC&DC.
Their Patron Award is aimed at supporting the next generation of craftspeople for skills training delivered through their extensive and highly skilled membership, and supported in collaboration with the GC&DC.
This free-standing Special Patron Award is for students studying full or part-time on a recognised college or university course (jewellery, silversmithing or smallwork, both 3D and 2D design students) entering work into the competition.
Course or subject leaders will be invited to support applicants and recommend student entrants who they feel would most benefit from some invaluable work experience to develop their craft or design skills with a Fellow of the IPG.
Recommended entrant work will be assessed by a dedicated judging panel that will include representation from the IPG.
All entrant recommendations will be considered, irrespective of any other awards that may have been won in the competition.
Judges will be looking for
Taking the specific level of education into consideration, judges will be looking for:
Skills potential
Commendable use of tools and materials
Scale, proportion and accuracy
Quality of construction (showing promise) for 3D or understanding of manufacturing
techniques for 2D students
Standard of finish overall
Innovative use of materials and processes (where appropriate)
Unmissable OpportunitiesÂ
Following the Awards Ceremony next March, the winner of this prestigious Special Patron award will liaise with the IPG to identify and arrange their skills training, which offers the chance to develop craft and/or design skills through invaluable work experience with a Fellow of the IPG supported by the GC&DC.
They will also be given free IPG membership for a year, as well as access to all the benefits that the membership brings.
11 Jan 2026
Online Entry Form Submission Deadline
13 - 14 Jan 2026
Entry submission @
The Goldsmiths’ Centre
EC1M 5AD
9th Mar 2026
Awards Ceremony @
The Merchant Taylors' Hall,
EC2R 8JB
23 - 27 Mar 2026
Awards Exhibition & Events @
The Birmingham Assay Office
B1 3AX
1 July - 10 Sept 2026
Awards Exhibition & Events @
The Goldsmiths’ Centre
EC1M 5AD
"The Institute of Professional Goldsmiths (IPG) exists to acknowledge and validate, encourage and educate, empower and promote Artisans in the field of Jewellery, Silversmithing and their Allied Trades.
Our objectives are to establish and maintain the highest standards of craftsmanship by individuals in our industry. To formally record, where appropriate, distinctive classifications of members defining professional attainments and to confer on authorised members the right to use the distinctive letters FIPG after their name defining them as a Fellow of The Institute of Professional Goldsmiths, thereby allowing them the use of the term Master Craftsman to describe their level of professional attainment. "
