Sobey Art Award – Nominations

Nominations for the 2020 Sobey Art Award are now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted an application. Come back on April 15 to discover the long list of nominees.

Established in 2002, the Sobey Art Award is the pre-eminent prize for Canadian artists 40 years of age and under. Presented annually, the award celebrates some of our country’s most exciting young artists, and offers significant financial recognition. This year, a total of $240,000 in prize money will be awarded: $100,000 to the overall winner, $25,000 to each of the four other shortlisted artists, and $2,000 to each of the remaining twenty longlisted artists. In addition, the five shortlisted artists will be featured in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in even years, and at a leading art institution in Canada in odd years. Three nominees from the longlist will also take part in the Sobey Art Award Residencies Program: a trio of international art residencies funded by the Sobey Art Foundation.

An independent jury — consisting of curators representing five regions (the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and the North, and the West Coast and Yukon), as well as one international juror — oversees the selection process. The jury creates a list of five artists from each region, selected from all regional nominees, and based on the jurors’ professional knowledge of their regions and of the national art scene. The jury then meets and chooses one representative from each region for the national shortlist. The winner of the Sobey Art Award is chosen by the jury from this shortlist, and is announced during a gala event, being held this year on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at the National Gallery of Canada.