The first, second, and third-place jewels in the Las Vegas competition.
There are many new entries among the 2026 winners of the Couture Design Awards in Las Vegas, one of the most popular jewelry competitions in the world. The awards were assigned by a jury composed of Carla Carter of G. Marie Luxuries, Corina Madilian of Single Stone, Jon Kaiser of Bloomingdale’s, Miguel Enamorado of Harper’s Bazaar, and writer Smitha Sadanandan. Here are the winners by category.
Best in Below $10,000 Retail
Itä won first place with the Yarí İznik Whirl ring, a new version of the brand’s Yarí Whirl ring, inspired by the historic Turkish city of İznik. Second and third place went to Yvonne Léon and Italian designer FerriFirenze.
Best in Bridal
Winner: Uniform Object, with the Mantle ring. Kamyen and Harwell Godfrey took second and third place.
Best in Color Below $40K
Jorge Adeler took first place with an opal ring. Karina Choudhrie and JV Insardi took second and third place.
Best in Color Above $40K
Jared Lehr took first place, while Mindi Mond placed second and Miseno took third.
Best in Platinum
Italy’s Demeglio won the Best Platinum Jewelry award. Plat Africa and Le Gramme took second and third place.
Best in Diamonds Below $40K
First place went to Zahn-Z designer Hiba Husayni (winning her second consecutive Couture Design Award) with the Big Zaha Art Deco ring. Second place went to another Italian brand, Mattia Cielo, while Ondyn placed third.
Best in Diamonds Above $40K
Germany’s Stenzhorn took first place in the category with a delicate choker, followed by Crisscut in second place, and Idoro in third.
Best in Gold
Rainbow K’s Tourbillon necklace won first place in the category, while Salima Thakker took second place and Peruffo took third.
Best in Innovative
Among this year’s new designs, Pen Mané won two Couture Design Awards: in the Best in Innovative category, it beat out Francesca Villa, who came in second, and Busatti 1947, who came in third.
Best in Haute Couture
A creation in white and yellow diamonds by Ashna Mehta took first place in the category, with Saboo Fine Jewels in second place and Hong Kong designer Austy Lee in third.
Best in Pearls
The winner for the category was Jiahn, while Gellner took second place and Yutai took third place.
Editors’ Choice
Pen Mané won again, with Italian designer Mariani taking second place and debutant Juliana Xerez Fine Jewelry in third.
Best in Debut
The category saw Crisscut take first place, Daniel Yu second, and AG Mehta third.
People’s Choice
The award, chosen by text message voting during the Couture Design Awards, went to Helena Rose. Italian designer Chantecler took second place and Harry Kotlar third.
