- Artes Mundi.
- Biennially – even-numbered years.
- Top prize of £40,000, with runners-up awarded £4,000. The work of short-listed artists is displayed as part of the Artes Mundi exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff.
- Open to any artist of any age and nationality whose work explores the human condition.
- Focus on international contemporary visual artists who engage with social reality and lived experience.
- Open call for nominations artists via an online form. Artists can be nominated more than once across successive cycles. Two selectors then determine a shortlist of 5–7 artists for exhibition. Prize winner is selected by a larger panel of eminent judges that does not include the original selector.
- Arts Council of England, Grants for the Arts.
- Open applications throughout the year.
- Grants may range from £1,000-100,000. The average grant made to visual artists in 2015/16 was £17,486.00.
- The artist’s activity must take place mainly in England. There are some exceptions to this, when artists from England are involved in activities in other countries.
- The proposal is appraised across four main areas:
Artistic quality – the quality of the activity and the quality of effect the activity will have on the people experiencing it, or its ongoing effect on artistic practice (or all of these)
Public engagement – how the public will engage with the activity, immediately or in the long term
Management – how the activity will be managed and its ongoing effect
Finance – how realistic the activity is financially and its future effect - Grants for the Arts are for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities, and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work.
- Arts Council of Ireland.
- Open applications throughout the year.
- Grant sizes vary depending on the fund.
- Arts Council of Ireland’s strategic context for the support of visual arts has five priority areas: the artist; public engagement; investment strategy; spatial and demographic planning; and developing capacity.
- Visual arts include a range of media such as painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, live art/performance, film, video or other digital imaging media.
- Arts Council of Wales and Creative Wales Awards.
- Open grants are available to any type of artist and ranged from £12,500-25,000 in 2015/16.
- Applicants should live in Wales and the proposed project should happen in Wales.
- Arts Council of Wales believes ‘in the power of the arts to transform people’s lives, and to change communities; that everybody in Wales should have access to quality arts experiences and have the opportunity to take part in and enjoy the arts; that artists need to be supported to develop their talents, and should have the opportunity to develop their careers’.
- Baloise and Art Basel International Art Fair.
- Annual – winners are announced at Art Basel fair.
- Two top prizes of CHF 30000 (£21,770). Prize includes the acquisition by Baloise of a selection of works by the award winner. Baloise buys groups of works by the prize winners with the object of donating them to two leading European museums, currently the MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt and the MUDAM, Luxembourg.
- Eligibility limited to ‘emerging artists’, but candidates can be of any nationality.
- Outlook of the award tied up with that of the corporate founder: ‘Baloise believes that the privilege of owning art brings with it the obligation to present it to a wider public.’
- Winners chosen by a jury of five curators and art directors.
- National Portrait Gallery.
- Award of £30,000 for first-prize winner with a total prize fund of £61,000.
- Unrestricted entry.
- Focus on promoting young figurative painting. More traditional outlook.
- In 2015 a new procedure was introduced which required artists to submit a digital image of their work. From these, 456 works were selected for second stage judging where the original paintings were viewed and the exhibition selection made.
- Celeste International – based in New York.
- A total of €23,000 in prizes divided across categories of painting and drawing, photography and digital graphics, video and animation, installation, sculpture and performance and a prize for young artists. Other benefits include promotion and expenses.
- Unrestricted entry.
- Aims to ‘…promote international contemporary art in its widest sense’.
- Selection from a shortlist of 50.
- Administered and funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.
- Only available to members of Aosdana. A member may apply for a Cnuas at any time.
- The Cnuas is a stipend that is available to Aosdana members under certain conditions. It is provided by the Arts Council to assist Aosdana members to concentrate their time and energies on the full time pursuit of their art. A Cnuas is granted for a five-year term. In 2011, the value of the Cnuas was €17,180 per annum.
- Only members of the Aosdana artistic community can apply for a Cnuas. Membership of Aosdana is limited to 250 individuals. In order to be eligible to receive the stipend, the earnings of the applicant cannot be in excess of one-and-a-half times the value of a Cnuas. Membership of Aosdana is by peer election and candidates must be Irish/Northern Irish or have been resident in the Republic of Ireland/ Northern Ireland for five years. They must have produced a distinguished body of work.
- The purpose of the Cnuas is to allow artists to immerse themselves fully in their work.
- Eligibility is based primarily on financial need, as set out above.
Columbia Threadneedle Prize: Figurative Art Today
- Mall Galleries.
- The Columbia Threadneedle Prize champions figurative art today. It is one of the most valuable open art competitions in Europe.
- One artist will be chosen to win the First Prize of £20,000 and a solo exhibition. A further prize of £10,000 is awarded by visitors to the exhibition, which takes place at Mall Galleries in central London. Five Shortlisted Artists each receive £1,000.
- The Prize, UK and Europe’s pre-eminent prize for figurative and representational art, showcases important new works by emerging and established artists.
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize
- The Photographers’ Gallery.
- First prize of £30,000, and £3,000 for the three runners-up, with an exhibition at the Photographer’s Gallery for all four shortlisted candidates.
- Artists can be of any nationality and are nominated on the basis of a previous exhibition/publication within Europe.
- Rewards artists who have made a ‘significant contribution’ to the medium of photography in Europe over the previous year.
- Candidates are nominated by an independent academy of experts and are subsequently judged by a jury of four.
- The Elephant Trust.
- Trustees meet four times a year to consider applications, as advertised on website.
- Grants of up to £2,000 but with the addition of the Shelagh Wakely Bequest some larger grants of up to £5,000 may be awarded.
- Awards are available to UK artists for new, innovative visual projects. Small organisations and galleries are also eligible.
- Aims to make it possible for artists to undertake and complete projects when confronted by lack of funds.
- Open application by post. Requires projected budget, visual material and CV.
- Portsmouth Guildhall and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
- Programme launched in 2016
- This award is designed to support an emerging musician with a disability, autism or special educational needs, to develop their practice and take a ‘step up’ in their field.
- Funding of £3,000 will be available to support one emerging musician over an 8 month period as well as professional mentoring, provision of targeted training and support to plan, develop and present a new piece of work or complete a work in progress.
- Suitable applicants will be emerging musicians, who are looking for support and guidance, training opportunities and opportunities to develop their work. Applicants do not need to be Portsmouth residents.
- Through the application process and structured discussions with Portsmouth Cultural Trust, the successful applicant will identify development needs and areas of focus. This will then be supported by the Trust through funding as well as assistance in seeking these opportunities over the 8 month period.
- Film London and Arts Council England.
- Two to five awards of between £20,000 and £50,000. Development bursary of £1,000 and access to professional expertise for shortlisted applications.
- No age limit, but artists must have a London address. They must also have previously exhibited at festivals, cinemas or galleries.
- Focus on supporting experimental works that represent a significant step forward in the work of the artist.
- Up to 15 artists shortlisted for two to five awards. Selection carried out by Film London head of production, FLAMIN manager, Film London board member and three external assessors.
- Guggenheim Foundation, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum.
- Award of $100,000.
- No age, gender, nationality or media restrictions on eligibility.
Nominations include emerging artists as well as distinguished professionals who are due recognition. - Focus on rewarding work that represents a significant development in contemporary art. Hugo Boss sees the prize as ‘…underlining our commitment to the arts as an integral part of our corporate culture’.
- A jury of curators, critics and scholars nominates six or seven artists for the shortlist and subsequently chooses the prize winner
- Discerning Eye, ING and Parker Harris (organizers of annual exhibition).
- Sponsor’s prize of £5,000 and Founder’s prize of £2,500. Various other monetary awards down to £250. A key reward for this scheme is the exhibition of work in the Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries.
- Open to all British artists or those resident in the UK.
- The programme is advertised as providing a unique opportunity for works by lesser-known artists to be displayed alongside those by internationally known names.
- Combination of invited artists and open submission of works. Six selectors – two artists, two collectors, two critics – curate their own separate exhibitions, taking a minimum of 25% of their final selection from the pool of submitted works.
- Film London, Channel 4 and The Whitechapel Gallery.
- One award of £10,000 and a broadcast commission from Channel 4, worth £20,000.
- Any mid-career film-maker from the UK can be put forward for the prize.
- Focus on innovative artist film-making – ‘…the award is a means of recognizing artists who are changing the rules of the game’.
- Ten artists shortlisted for a single prize. Winner chosen by a jury of five, including representatives from The Whitechapel Gallery and Channel 4.
- Jerwood Visual Arts.
- First prize of £8,000, second prize of £5,000 and two student awards of £2,000 each. Between 60–70 artists are also selected for an exhibition.
- Open to all artists resident or domiciled within the UK.
- The country’s leading award in drawing, and the largest and longest running annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the UK.
- Selection by panel – artists are invited to submit their works though regional collection centres.
- Jerwood Visual Arts.
- Annually for three years.
- £7,500 for makers submitting proposals for new work. The work will then be exhibited in London before touring the UK.
- Open submission.
- Focus on recognising making practices within contemporary visual arts. It offers crucial support in the early stages of their careers, enabling the selected artists to develop their creative ideas independently of specific commissioning structures.
- Recipients selected by a panel of three.
- Jerwood Visual Arts.
- £10,000 bursary and a six-month period of professional development support.
- The Jerwood Painting Fellowships are specifically for UK artists who are within five years of graduating or setting up their practice.
- They cannot have committed gallery representation, or have had a UK solo show at the time of applying.
- Selection panel and subsequent interview.
John Moores Painting Prize 2010
- National Museums Liverpool/ Walker Art Gallery/ John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust.
- Biannually – to coincide with the Liverpool Biennial.
- First prize of £25,000 with four other prizes of £2,500. In addition, the winner of the popular ‘Visitor’s Choice’ prize will win £2,016 (in 2015). Exhibition at Walker Art Gallery for selected works
- Artists must live or be professionally based within the UK. Candidates are judged on a particular piece.
- Marketed as the UK’s biggest painting prize.
- Open submissions shortlisted by a jury. Works must then be submitted through six depots across the UK and are brought to Liverpool for judging. Paintings worthy for exhibition and prizes are then selected.
Les Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Award
- Les Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Award with the support of the Luma Foundation.
- Annual, since 2002.
- First prize of €25,000. Winner is chosen from a group of 15 exhibitions featuring the work of 15 nominated photographers and artists. There are two additional prizes: The Contemporary Book Award and The Historical Book Award, worth €8,000 each for the best photo books published during the previous year. (Open call given in April each year.)
- Candidates can be of any age and any nationality and are predominantly artists whose ‘…work has been recently discovered internationally or deserves to be’.
- Focus on photographers or artists making use of photography.
- Five experts from different photographic fields nominate three artists each to exhibit their work as candidates for the Discovery Award. The winner is chosen by a vote of professionals present during the first week of the exhibition.
- Lynn Foundation and Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers.
- First prize of £15,000, five runner-up prizes of £1,500, young artist award of £2,500. There is also a £5,000 prize for works of the human figure (for artists 30 years or under). Complemented by an exhibition at The Mall Galleries, London, SW1 featuring a wider range of paintings from the field of submissions.
- Open to all UK based artists over 18 years of age.
The purpose of the prize is to encourage creative representational painting and promote the skill of draftmanship. All work must be for sale, except commissioned portraits
- Standpoint Gallery and the Mark Tanner Charitable Trust.
- MTSA intends to support the creative work of the recipient over one year. The financial award to assist in the production of a new body of work is £8,000, made in 3 payments over the course of the year, at the end of which there will be a solo exhibition at Standpoint Gallery. All reasonable costs incurred for this exhibition will be met by Standpoint, including publicity, transport and hospitality.
- Candidates must live and work in the UK. There is no age limit – ‘…we seek to give the award to an artist who demonstrates the development of a mature practice, but to whom the prize would make a considerable difference’. Candidates must have graduated at least one year previously from formal art education.
- MTSA is aimed at emerging/mid-career sculptors making outstanding work within contemporary fine art practice. The award is particularly interested in work that demonstrates a commitment to process and material.
- Shortlisting by written application and digital submission of work via a panel including two guest selectors. Final selection through presentation and interview at Standpoint.
Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust
- Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust
- Awards are made in December each year. Applications may be submitted at any time but must be received by 7 October in order to be considered for an award within the same calendar year.
- Grants range from £250 – £1,000.
- Small scale grants are available to British artists, designers, writers and performers over the age of 30 who are experiencing financial difficulties in the pursuit of their careers.
- The Trust welcomes applications from professional or aspiring artists, designers, writers and performers working in any of the following disciplines:
Visual arts(including painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and work in other media)
Crafts(including ceramics, glass, metalwork, woodcarving, textiles and work in other media)
Music (musicians, composers and conductors)
Design (including fashion, product design/innovation and work in digital media)
Performing arts (actors, dancers and individual performance artists of any other kind)
Creative writing (poets, novelists, librettists and creative writers of any other kind)
Film & digital media
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants
- The Pollock-Krasner Foundation (USA).
- No deadlines – rolling application programme.
- Grants of varying amounts.
- Eligibility limited to painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper.
- The Pollock-Krasner Foundation’s dual criteria for grants are recognizable artistic merit and demonstrable financial need, whether professional, personal or both.
- Mission of the grants is to aid those individuals who have been working as professionals for a significant period of time.
- Artists are required to submit a cover letter, an application, and images of current work.
- Royal Academy of Arts.
- Several monetary awards:
- £25,000 (The Royal Academy of Arts Charles Wollaston Award) for the most distinguished work
- £10,000 (The Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture) for sculpture first prize
- £10,000 (Turkishceramics Grand Award for Architecture) for the most outstanding work of architecture.
- Two prizes of £5,000 and £3,000 (The British Institution Awards for Students) for work across a comprehensive range of creative disciplines from painting to architecture
- £5,000 (Hugh Casson Drawing Prize)
- £4,000 (Sunny Dupree Family Award for a Woman Artist) for a painting or sculpture
- £2,500 (London Original Print Fair Prize) for a print in any medium
- £2,000 (The Arts Club Award) for an artist aged 35 or under for a work in any medium except architecture
- £1,000 (The Rose Award for Photography) for a photograph or series of photographs
- Around 1,200 works are also exhibited each year and many are sold.
- Unrestricted entry within the UK – works are judged automatically according to their categories.
- High profile scheme; the largest open contemporary art exhibition in the world.
- A panel of Academicians judge all the pieces, and prizewinners are announced on non-members Varnishing Day, when exhibitors arrive to view their pieces.
- Roswitha Haftmann Foundation.
- The prize is usually awarded annually, though this cycle may vary.
- Award of CHF 150,000 (£101,671).
- Prizewinners chosen on the basis of their artistic significance, without regard for age, nationality or gender.
- Aim of the award is to recognise outstanding achievement in visual arts.
- Selection process conducted solely by the ‘board’ of the Foundation. This panel consists of six members, four of whom are nominated by institutions. The institutions are the Kunsthaus Zurich, Kunstmuseum Bern, Kunstmuseum Basel and Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour
- Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour.
- Various awards open to artists of all ages, both young and established.
- The annual awards reflect a commitment by the Society to promote and encourage member and non-member artists working in waterbased media.
Royal Society of Sculptors Awards
- Royal Society of Sculptors Awards
- The Royal Society of Sculptors offers three awards: The Gilbert Bayes Award, First@108, and Spotlight.
- Gilbert Bayes Award supports early career sculptors (previously the Bursary Awards) and is given annually by the Society to a small group of outstandingly talented sculptors.
- First@108 is open to any artist working in three dimensions, providing a unique and rare opportunity for the winner to build a track record in the competitive arena of public art.
- Spotlight is an annual collaboration between the Royal Society of Sculptors and the William Benington Gallery which awards a Society member with a solo exhibition in a commercial contemporary gallery in London.
- The St Hugh’s Foundation.
- Award between £1,000–£15,000 in our area of benefit (the City of Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (including North and North East Lincolnshire)).
- Applicants must be resident and regularly working in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire East Riding or the City of Hull. Projects considered in any art form.
- ‘The Foundation aims to help established arts practitioners and producers to develop their professional careers in the arts, and in doing so, to contribute their own knowledge and experience to the wider growth and dissemination of arts practice in the region.’
- Initial application by form downloaded from website. Candidates are then shortlisted and interviewed by the trustees for the final decision.
Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize
- Taylor Wessing and National Portrait Gallery.
- First prize of £12,000, second prize £3,000, third prize £2,000, fourth prize £1,000. National Portrait Gallery exhibition of the work of 60 artists. Elle magazine commission for the winner.
- Any photographer of any nationality may enter, as long as they are over 18. In 2009/2010, 2,500 photographers submitted more than 6,700 pieces. Each artist can submit up to six photographs.
- Aims to ‘…showcase the work of the most talented emerging young photographers, photography students and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals’.
- A panel of six whittles down the entries to 60 for the exhibition. The prize winners are then chosen.
The Arts Foundation Futures Awards
- The Arts Foundation.
- Up to six £10,000 awards, each for a practitioner of a different art form. Categories rotate each year. In 2016, the categories are Arts in the Urban Space, Children’s Theatre, Producers of Live Music, Jewellery Design, Literary Translation and Materials Innovation.
- Eligibility limited to artists living and working in the UK. The award is given to emerging artists who have achieved some professional standing. Selection based on both talent and need.
- Aims to provide artists with stability to explore new forms at a critical stage and to facilitate cross-artform networking.
- Shortlist for prizes drawn up by nomination. ‘The Foundation uses leading practitioners and experienced professionals whose key positions enable them to identify the most talented and deserving artists.’
- Rebecca Hossack Gallery.
- First prize of £6,000.
- Open to artists under the age of thirty whose work deals with the broad theme of landscape.
- Application by written form and electronic submission of selected portfolio. Shortlist of six is chosen to produce work for an exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery. Prize winners chosen on the basis of exhibition.
- Victoria and Albert Museum.
- A single prize of £25,000 is awarded to the winner at a prize-giving ceremony.
- Entry is by nomination only. Nominations are invited from a wide range of specialists with a knowledge of contemporary art and design inspired by the Islamic tradition. More than 200 artists are put forward in this way.
- The prize is truly international. It is not restricted to entrants who are Muslim or from the Islamic world, but is open to designers for any nationality, creed or age.
- The aim of the award is to ‘…explore the relationship between Islamic traditions of art, craft and design and contemporary work as part of a wider debate about Islamic culture and its role today’.
- The shortlisted artists and designers are invited to show examples of their work in a special exhibition at the V&A.
The Leverhulme Trust Arts Training Bursaries
- The Leverhulme Trust.
- Next call for applications will be in spring 2018.
- The aim of these awards is to provide training opportunities across the whole range of artistic disciplines in the fine and performing arts. Arts Scholarships may be in the form of (a) Bursaries to enable individuals to develop their talent and/or (b) Innovative teaching awards to provide new and original training opportunities for the students concerned.
- Individual scholars or students may not apply directly to the Trust
- Pictet & Cie.
- 18-month cycle.
- A single prize of CHF 100,000 and a commission in which a shortlisted photographer is invited to undertake a field trip to a region where Pictet & Cie is sponsoring a sustainability project.
- Entry is by nomination only.
- Mandate is to use the power of world-class photography to raise awareness of a global audience to the social and environmental challenges of the new millennium.
- Tate.
- Annual.
- £25,000 for the winner and £5,000 for each of the other nominees. Shortlisted artists present works in a show normally held at Tate Britain before the winner is chosen.
- British artists under 50.
- High-profile prize to celebrate new developments in contemporary art.
- Nominations are invited each year and are judged by a rotating independent jury. Members of the jury in 2014 were: Stefan Kalmar, Helen Legg, Sarah McCrory, Dirk Snauwaert and Penelope Curtis.
- Wellcome Trust.
- Several awards each year.
- Two types of award. Up to and including £40,000 for small-to-medium sized projects projects – delivery of small-scale productions, investigation of new methods, development of new collaborations. Above £40,000 for large projects – significant productions that will have high levels of impact.
- Applicants must live and work in the UK or Republic of Ireland and are usually affiliated to third-party organisations (e.g. galleries). Collaborative projects are welcomed. Projects should involve the creation of new artistic work and must have some biomedical scientific input.
- Scheme aims to stimulate interest, excitement and debate about biomedical science through the arts.
- Slightly different application process for small and large projects. The former requires a written form that is assessed on merit and need by a funding committee. Initial applications for large grants are assessed by the Arts Awards Advisory Panel, which then invites successful applicants to develop a full proposal.