Auckland based artist Simon Lewis Wards is the winner of the prestigious 2025 Small Sculpture Prize for his work Unboxing. Presented by Perpetual Guardian the $5,000 non-acquisitive prize was announced at the exhibition opening event at Waiheke Community Art Gallery on Friday 9 May. Wards writes of the bronze and glass crystal work ‘We chase the high of getting, not having. The box becomes the star, not what’s inside. My kids unwrap their gifts, toss the toys, and play with the packaging. Maybe they see it clearer than we do—it’s the moment, not the stuff, that really sticks.’