American Craft Council Awards of Excellence celebrate outstanding artists in our marketplaces. Our awards recognize makers who demonstrate exceptional quality of work and entrepreneurial effort, and whose values align with ACC’s mission to create healthy, vibrant, and equitable marketplaces.

The ACC Awards of Excellence include five individual awards given. Three of those awards follow the general marketplace categories of: Home & Living, Jewelry, Apparel & Accessories; and two awards recognize those newest to our marketplace and those who have been long-time participants: Emerging Artist and Legacy Artist. Winners receive a cash prize and guaranteed entry into the next Baltimore marketplace.

The Asé Design Award for Excellence in Wood is an annual award provided by Darryl Patterson; Baltimore-based artist and designer and ACC Trustee, and Lawrence Moore, co-founder of Asé Design Studio. The award honors their commitment to community empowerment and meaningful engagement. Patterson and Moore are both long-time designers and woodworkers, and this award is a recognition of excellence within American Craft Made / Baltimore for the media of wood, with the winner receiving a cash prize of $500.

The CERF+ Emerging Artist Readiness Award is an annual award (over five years from 2025-2030) provided by the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+), a non-profit organization that provides craft artists emergency relief and preparedness grants as well as education, advocating for craft artists through every step of their creative journeys.

The CERF+ Emerging Artist Readiness Award provides a $1,000 grant to one early career/emerging artist participating in the American Craft Council’s American Craft Made / Baltimore marketplace, to safeguard their craft-based practice from a future emergency. Awardees are then invited to nominate a peer in the field of craft who would benefit from funds to safeguard their practice, and this peer is awarded $1,000 as well.

The American Craft Council is pleased to offer the Randall Darwall Grant for Fiber Artists in conjunction with our Baltimore marketplace. The grant provides a free booth, a stipend to assist with marketplace expenses, and a one-year ACC membership. The grant is made possible by generous donors who have contributed to ACC in Randall’s memory.

Randall Darwall (1948-2017) and his life partner Brian participated in American Craft Council shows for three decades, bringing their love of textiles and fiber to the community that meant so much to them. Craft in America called Randy “one of contemporary craft’s finest weavers,” noting that for him, “dyeing and weaving was a way to set up a conversation between colors; when the cloth is worn, it becomes kinetic sculpture.” Randy and Brian especially loved seeing the exciting work and fresh ideas that new artists brought to ACC’s shows. Accordingly, the purpose of the Randall Darwall Grant is to encourage fiber artists who might not otherwise take the risk to participate in an ACC marketplace.