On November 15, 2016, the 10th CCAA (Chinese Contemporary Art Award) Artist Prizes were announced at a press conference at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Xu Bing was awarded the Lifetime Achievement prize, while Cao Fei was named the Best Artist and He Xiangyu the Best Young Artist. The winners were selected out of the shortlist of 64 artists; Cao Fei in particular had won the Best Young Artist prize before, in 2006.
First established in 1997, the CCAA prizes have had a run of 19 years, with the Best Young Artist prize added in 2002, and the Lifetime Achievement prize added in 2004. The system now selects artists through nominations (90%) and an open call (10%).
Every iteration of the CCAA prize invites renowned museum directors, curators, and academics from China and around the world as jury members. The members of the jury this year included: Bernard Blistène, director of the Centre Pompidou in France; Chris Dercon, honorary director of the Tate Modern in the UK; Suhanya Raffel, director of M+ Museum in Hong Kong; the curator Feng Boyi; Peng De, Professor at the Xi’an Academy of Art; Yin Jinan, Head of the College of Humanities at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Uli Sigg, founder of the CCAA prize.