Katherine Adams from New York won the first prize in the 8th edition of the International Awards for Art Criticism for her review "Of Worlds and Women: 'No Master Territories.'"

Adams will get 10,000 euros (US$10,810) as well as a brief residency in Shanghai.

Second-place winners, Pang Zheng from Shanghai, Andy Stooke from London and Zhong Shanyu from Beijing, will each receive 3,500 euros.

The International Awards for Art Criticism, organized by the International Awards for Art Criticism and funded by the Philosophy School of Fudan University, is also supported by the Royal College of Art, Edinburgh University of College of Art and the International Association of Art Critics.

IAAC seeks to promote critical coverage of contemporary art, independent of the market, media and private patronage. The prizes are intended to encourage good writing, critical thinking, conversation and study in China, the United Kingdom and beyond.

This year's jury panel included Iara Boubnova, director of the National Gallery of Bulgaria; Hou Hanru, an international curator and art critic; Emily LaBarge, a Canadian-born writer living in London; Jacques Leenhardt, honorary president of the International Association of Art Critics; and Lu Jiande, director of the Center for Comparative Literature and Transcultural Studies at Xiamen University.

The 8th edition of the IAAC attracted 364 submissions, a 45 percent increase over the previous year. Among them, 188 were in English and 176 in Chinese.

"The full-time professional art critic is a vanishing species, but writing about art, or becoming critically engaged with it from a variety of angles seems to be enjoying a boom," said Henry Meyric Hughes, chair of the International Awards for Art Criticism.

"We are delighted to see the diverse entries from all over the world, mirroring societal issues and philosophical thought from art exhibitions," said professor Sun Xiangchen, joint chair of IAAC.