AGTA Names Spectrum and Cutting Edge Buyer’s Choice Award Winners

The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) picked two winners for its 2025 Spectrum and Cutting Edge Buyer’s Choice awards.

AGTA announced the winners on Thursday at the Spectrum Awards Gala at the Tucson Convention Center. Throughout the week of the fair, AGTA GemFair attendees in Tucson, Arizona, voted for their favorite pieces, choosing one from the Spectrum division and one from the Cutting Edge category, AGTA explained on Friday.

The winner of the Spectrum Buyer’s Choice award was a Mimi So rose gold Cotton Candy necklace. It contained a pear shaped, 16.71-carat kunzite, a 4.05-carat, vivid-pink spinel and a 5.65-carat imperial topaz accented with 18.71 carats of sapphires, 14.99 carats of spinels, 41.70 carats of tourmalines and 8.71 carats of diamonds. It also won a Spectrum Evening Wear Honorable Mention Award, AGTA added.

A Ben Kho octagonal-cut, 35.25-carat, pink-purple kunzite grabbed the Cutting Edge Buyer’s Choice award, AGTA said. This gem also won first place for Cutting Edge in the All Other Gemstones category.

“AGTA shoppers are known for their great taste, so their decisions on these two beautiful pieces — Mimi So’s necklace and Ben Kho’s Kunzite — were a delight to see,” said AGTA CEO John Ford. “It’s never an easy decision because there are so many wonderful entries in the competition, so we are always appreciative when attendees take time out of their schedules to choose winners.”

The next edition of the Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards will open for entries at the end of June, said Ford.

Image: The Spectrum and Cutting Edge Buyer’s Choice Award winners. (American Gem Trade Association).