On November 15, 2025, the 6th Hongwen Culture and Arts Excellence Award (HCAEA) ceremony was held in Central, Hong Kong. Over 300 distinguished guests from 12 countries and regions attended the ceremony, witnessing 52 recipients being honoured.

In his opening address, the HCADS Council Chairperson reflected on the award's six-year journey — growing from three initial categories to five, with a cumulative total exceeding 330 recipients. The HCAEA not only recognizes individual academic contributions but also pays tribute to the collective wisdom of the entire education, culture, and arts community.

Five Award Categories

At this year's ceremony, recipients from all five categories — Educational Innovation Award, Cultural Heritage Award, Artistic Achievement Award, Emerging Young Talent Award, and Interdisciplinary Integration Award — took the stage in turn. Professor Zhou Yifan, recipient of the Educational Innovation Award, noted in his acceptance speech that amid rapid advances in artificial intelligence, humanities education faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities — making technology serve the cultivation of humanistic spirit is a question educators must confront directly.

Professor Huang Jiaying, recipient of the Cultural Heritage Award, shared her two decades of dedication to overseas Chinese language education, noting that cultural identity cannot be built without the nourishment of education. The development of overseas Chinese language education concerns not only language skills but, more importantly, cultural heritage and identity.

Researcher Zhang Ruiyun, recipient of the Artistic Achievement Award, reflected on the path of inheritance and innovation in Chinese painting within contemporary contexts. She emphasized that the vitality of traditional art lies in its ongoing dialogue with the times — one must uphold the essence of brush-and-ink spirit while boldly exploring new expressive languages and creative methods.

Dr. Chen Silin, recipient of the Emerging Young Talent Award, observed that the younger generation of researchers is re-examining the relationship between education and culture through entirely new perspectives. Her research focuses on social design and community cultural placemaking, seeking to intervene in community education through design thinking and transform cultural heritage into an accessible daily practice.

The team led by Zhao Wenyuan, recipient of the Interdisciplinary Integration Award, presented their "Sound Map" project. By collecting urban soundscapes and using sound as a carrier of cultural memory, the project integrates into school education and community cultural activities, opening a new dimension in cultural education.

Recipient Academic Sharing Session

During the ceremony, the Society also hosted a recipient academic sharing session, where representatives from all five award categories engaged in in-depth exchanges about their respective research and creative work. Attendees remarked on the rigorous and transparent selection mechanism of the HCAEA and expressed admiration for the academic calibre and practical contributions of the recipients.

Representatives of the Educational Innovation Award shared ideas and practices for reconstructing humanities education curricula in the age of AI, sparking lively discussion among attending scholars. Multiple guests offered their perspectives on how to preserve the core values of humanities education amid technology-driven educational transformation.

Representatives of the Cultural Heritage Award provided an in-depth analysis of the current state and challenges of overseas Chinese language education, exploring how to more effectively promote the overseas dissemination and transmission of Chinese culture in the context of globalization.

Six-Year Journey in Review

Looking back on the award's six-year journey — from three categories and 45 recipients in the inaugural 2020 edition, to the expansion to five categories in the 2022 third edition, to this edition's 52 recipients — the HCAEA's influence has continued to grow. Over six years, recipients have spanned education researchers, cultural scholars, artists, and teaching practitioners from multiple countries and regions, covering fields including educational innovation, cultural preservation, artistic creation, curriculum development, and interdisciplinary integration.

In his closing remarks, the Council Chairperson noted that the HCAEA's success would not have been possible without the rigorous and impartial evaluation work of the Hongwen Academic Advisory Committee (HAAC), nor without the active participation and support of the broader membership and partner institutions. The Society will continue to uphold its founding mission of "promoting humanistic spirit," steadily improving its award selection mechanisms, and providing a better academic stage for outstanding talent in education, culture, and arts across the Asia-Pacific.

Concurrent Events

This year's awards ceremony received support from multiple educational and cultural institutions in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Following the ceremony, guests visited the concurrently held HCADS Arts and Culture Exhibition Season, where over 200 works on display vividly demonstrated the rich achievements of Society members in artistic creation and educational practice.

The 4th HCADF Forum was also held concurrently, under the theme "Interdisciplinary Possibilities in Arts Education," offering attending scholars an even broader space for academic exchange. The linked operation of the awards ceremony, forum, and exhibition season formed a tripartite annual academic and cultural gala encompassing academic exchange, achievement recognition, and artistic presentation.

The Secretariat announced that the nomination process for the 7th HCAEA will officially open in May 2026, with calls for nominations to be issued through the Society's official website, academic cooperation network, and regional offices. Researchers and practitioners in education, culture, and arts across the Asia-Pacific are warmly invited to participate.