Liu Shiming’s lifelong dedication to art not only included his prolific output as a sculptor, but also a parallel career as an educator. In his thirties, he taught studio arts in Henan Province at Zhengzhou Art Academy and Kaifeng Normal College; later in life he served for fifteen years as an adjunct staff member of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing where he had once been a student. In honor of his legacy as both an artist and an educator, the Liu Shiming Distinguished Educator Award will recognize studio artists who have also demonstrated a strong commitment to training and inspiring the next generation of visual artists.

Open to adjunct faculty members in the US and Canada with at least five years of experience teaching studio arts to college or graduate students, this new award seeks to bring greater recognition to the field of art educators and the important role they play in training artists. By focusing specifically on adjunct faculty, the award will highlight the critical and often under-appreciated role of adjuncts, who typically balance teaching responsibilities with independent studio work.

​Two Distinguished Educators will be selected this year, with one reserved for adjunct faculty in sculpture, and the other open to any of the visual arts. In addition to a $10,000 award, each recipient will have travel costs covered to participate in a special ceremony at the Liu Shiming Art Gallery in New York City.

The application will include letters of recommendation, a short essay, and supporting materials. After an initial internal review, finalists will be identified by a selection panel of senior professors and academic leaders; the two award recipients will be announced in late September of 2025.​