David Handley, founder and artistic director of "Sculpture by the Sea", accepted the Gratias Agit award on behalf of the organisation, presented to him by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský during an official ceremony on 26 June 2025 in the Great Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The not-for-profit organisation "Sculpture by the Sea" has been organising outdoor sculptural exhibitions and installations in Australia over the more than 25 years of its existence has brought sculptural works by artists from all over the world to the public. From the very beginning of the exhibition - which now takes place in Bondi in Sydney, Cottesloe in Perth, and now supplemented by the permanent sculpture exhibition, the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail - the works of Czech artists have been regularly presented. The idea behind the outdoor sculpture exhibition in Sydney came to be in the former Czechoslovakia, where David Handley was living in the beginning of the 90s. Even in the upcoming 27th Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi, Sydney, a work by the Czech artist Kryštof Hoška will be displayed. 

The Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Sydney is a long-term sponsor of the presentation of Czech artists in exhibitions organised by the not-for-profit organisation "Sculpture by the Sea".