Celebrating Creativity

Being Neighbourly awards best of categories in gathering

Author/ Being Neighbourly
15 December 2025

The 2026 Being Neighbourly Creativity Awards was held at 7.30-10pm on November 28, 2025 at ArtRoofTop Club in Happy Valley. The folks behind ArtRoofTop had won Gold in the category of ‘Best Art Studio in Hong Kong’, and had kindly agreed to offer the studio space as a venue partner, waiving costs.

We invited nominees, winners supporters of our awards and also participants from our 2024 ‘Transitions’ exhibition held at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, the same month, last year.

In attendance were Lisa Surikova and Valentina Levin of ArtRoofTop, Nicole Chabot, founder of Being Neighbourly and Being Neighbourly volunteer and photographer for the night, Alex Edwards; judges Jason Dembski of HKWALLS & Current Projects and Yulia Yarkova of Galleries Gal; plus founders and employees from 10 Chancery Lane, Blue Lotus, Square Street Gallery, Parallel Space and Vetiva.

Artists in attendance included ‘Best Artist in Hong Kong’ winners Go Hung (Gold), Giraffe Leung (Silver) and Mia Nel (Bronze); Francesco Lietti, Eleanor McColl, Andreas von Buddenbrock, Rachel Smith and Cindy Rhee, the latter who was also nominated for ‘Best Artist Studio in HK.’

And the Award goes to...

Best Art Museum in Hong Kong:

M+ (Gold)

HKMoA (Silver)

CHAT (Centre for Heritage & Textiles) (Bronze)

Best Art Gallery in Hong Kong:

10 Chancery Lane (Gold)

Blue Lotus Gallery (Silver)

Karin Weber & Square Street Gallery (Bronze)

Best Artist in Hong Kong:

Go Hung (Gold)

Giraffe Leung (Silver)

Mia Nel (Bronze)

Best Art Studio in Hong Kong:

ArtRoofTop (Gold)

Ware Home Studio (Silver)

Lamma Art Collective (Bronze)

Due to the recent fire in Tai Po, we observed a moment of silence at the beginning of our event to commemorate the victims both alive and deceased, which had taken place just a few days prior.

We then viewed a short video about the Awards, underlining Being Neighbourly’s interest in and commitment to the arts and held a presentation ceremony of certificates and prizes to each winner in attendance. Gold winners received a bottle of rosé wine, while Silver and Bronze winners took home chocolate and biscuits.

This year saw the expansion of the Creativity Awards, which were founded last year from one category into four. The initial category of ‘Best Artist’, which had been tied to our 10-artist thematic exhibition last year was expanded into categories including: ‘Best Art Museum in Hong Kong’, ‘Best Art Gallery in Hong Kong’, and ‘Best Art Studio in Hong Kong.’

Nominations were from the public via a Google link, which had been posted in the run up in various neighbourhood and art-centric groups. The next stage to ensure fairness rather than the awards devolving into a popularity contest, was shortlisting by Being Neighbourly. The third and final round saw the shortlisted candidates being presented to our esteemed judging panel for their consideration, along with the judging criteria we had set up.

To help make their decisions easier, Being Neighbourly put together a magazine which has already been posted on the Awards page of our website. This was to ensure that each judge had easy access to information about places they may not have known about. As mentioned, we developed judging criteria for each category and a point system to arrive at our Gold, Silver and Bronze winners.

In the case of ‘Best Art Gallery in Hong Kong’, we had a tie, and, therefore, awarded two galleries as Bronze winners of the Award.

In the words of our Guests...

“We are honoured to be nominated as the ‘Best Art Gallery in Hong Kong’. We’re very grateful for this opportunity and for the chance to connect during the recent gathering with other passionate individuals who have worked tirelessly to promote the art scene in Hong Kong. It’s inspiring to be part of this vibrant community. Thank you for the hard work!” Yoyo Yu, 10 Chancery Lane.

“It was great to be invited to a recent event organised by Being Neighbourly and to be nominated for ‘Best Hong Kong Artist in Hong Kong’. It was a beautiful evening during which we had the opportunity to mingle and talk to some well-known artists in Hong Kong. Thank you to BN for organising the event!” Francesco Lietti, Artist.

“I was surprised to see my studio included in the nominees list for ‘Best Art Studio in Hong Kong’, which was organised by Being Neighbourly by Nicole Chabot. We greatly admire what Nicole is doing for the creative community here in Hong Kong. We artists get to connect and have greater opportunities to work together, share spaces and help each other!” Cindy Rhee, Cindy’s Art Studio.

The event was a “nourishing evening,” said one attendee afterwards, and Being Neighbourly felt that to go ahead would be to provide community at a very difficult time for the city.

We look forward to continuing to consolidate our support for artists in Hong Kong, particularly those who living depends on it. We will continue to do this through our LOCAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT articles, upcoming Gallery guide and our annual Creativity Awards, as well as our monthly Paper Bag Art competition and workshops.

View our Creativity Awards magazine with profiles of the winners and nominees here.

About the ArtRoofTop

ArtRoofTop is a creative space where artists of all levels come together to learn, grow and share their passion for art. The studio offers a variety of classes and workshops. They are also a gallery that showcases their members’ work and encourages art as an integral part of our collective lifestyle. Their community is inclusive and supportive, and the founders and staff hold the belief that everyone has the potential to be a great artist.