MICA student Hazel Paik '26 (Painting, BFA) and alumna Nicole Estelle Brown '25 (General Fine Arts, BFA) won first and second place in the 2025 AXA Art Prize. Paik, an international student from South Korea, took home $10,000 for her painting, Green Sun. Brown received an award for $5,000 for her mixed media painting Bodily Sacrifice: Operation VA Edition.

When considering colleges, Paik read about MICA’s history of first-place winners in the AXA art competition (four times in just eight years) and knew she wanted to attend MICA and enter the competition. Her winning entry was painted her junior year, using acrylic paint in an airbrush technique with an oil overlay.  

To win the AXA Art Prize, regional jurors reviewed more than 600 submissions from 158 colleges and universities across the country, narrowing the field to just 40 finalists. Six finalists were MICA students – Paik, Brown, Jada McAliley ’28 (Painting, BFA), Julie McCleerly ’26 (Painting, BFA), Ashley Keister ’25 (General Fine Arts, BFA) and Hui Ling Cheng ’27 (General Fine Arts, BFA) – the most of any school in the country.

The Baltimore Banner recently covered the story of the winning MICA students, with the title In this prestigious arts competition, MICA students stand alone.