The AXA Art Prize, with more than 600 submissions from 150-plus colleges all over the country, is as competitive as it gets for student artists.

That’s working out just fine for the Maryland Institute College of Art.

The Baltimore art and design school completed a clean sweep last month at the competition’s New York ceremony, as students Hazel Paik and Nicole Estelle Brown won first and second prizes, respectively, for their striking paintings. Paik took home $10,000, and Brown earned $5,000.

It was another outstanding showing from MICA, the contest’s most decorated college since the competition began in 2018. MICA students have now won the AXA Art Prize four times, including 2018 (Monica Ikegwu), 2023 (Toskago) and 2024 (Anna Rossi).

Of this year’s 40 undergraduate and graduate finalists, six were MICA students, the most of any school.

“It says a great deal about the talent the school is producing,” prize juror Jennifer Schipf said.

The works were showcased in a New York Academy of Art exhibition from Oct. 6 to Nov. 16, alongside finalists from top art schools in Chicago, New York and other U.S. cities.

Paik, who grew up in South Korea and came to Baltimore for MICA, described her win for “Green Sun,” a contemplative acrylic and oil painting of her younger brother reading a book, as “very unreal.”

“I just felt really grateful,” the 22-year-old senior said. “I was really happy, and it is quite validating.”

She credited her professor Tony Shore for the encouragement to try a new technique — in this case, using an airbrush to create the painting’s smooth, hyperrealistic effect. Shore said Paik, who enjoys experimenting with different materials, was a quick study.

“Two weeks later, she brings in her first finished thing that she did with an airbrush and I was blown away,” Shore said.

The jury awarded “Green Sun” for “its masterful technique and insightful exploration of identity.”

“All three jurors this year felt quite strongly about Hazel’s work,” Schipf said. “It was figurative, a little bit less predictable in its media and just a beautiful work with traditional skills but a more contemporary composition.”

Brown’s mixed-media work “Bodily Sacrifice: Operation VA Edition” recalls the board game Operation: A Black woman stands tall in the frame while scattered panels expose the subject’s body beneath the skin. Made with material like aluminum and polymer clay, the interactive painting includes tweezers, allowing the viewer to remove parts of the body.

Brown, who served in the Marines from 2007 to 2017, graduated from MICA in May. The work, she said, was inspired by her military service and the conversations she had with fellow Marines as they wondered how broken their bodies had become.

They jokingly compared getting compensation from Veterans Affairs to a game of jumping through hoops.

“That’s how come I made the Operation board. It’s a game, but it’s really not a game,” said Brown, 37. “But you have to laugh so you don’t cry.”

“Bodily Sacrifice” exemplifies “the future of figurative art,” the jury said, while Schipf commended Brown’s ability to “push boundaries” with different materials.

“That was a really nice execution of her technique — not just the image, but the three-dimensionality,” Schipf said. “The almost sculptural nature was pretty creative, in addition to the compelling composition.”

Brown, a mother of four now living in Fredericksburg, Virginia, missed the award ceremony. She was busy delivering twin girls the night before.

“Everything that I do is for my family and for my children to prove that it can be done,” said Brown, who plans to use the winnings to furnish home studios for herself and her musician husband.

Paik hopes this is just the beginning of her career as an artist. The prize money will help fund life after graduation, she said, whether it’s a residency program, graduate school or a potential move to New York.

“I really want to create a cohesive body of work,” Paik said of her ambitions. “I would love to have a solo exhibition in the future.”

She’s on her way; “Green Sun” already has a buyer.

For Shore, who served as a regional juror in the early stages of this year’s contest, MICA’s outsize excellence at the AXA Art Prize reflects the faculty’s “team effort” to nurture students’ talents and provide platforms to show them off.

“It’s really just getting the work in front of the eyes of these people that are recognizing the true talent that’s coming out of this place,” he said.