Major art competitions in the UK in 2009 - dates and deadlines

"Katie" and Craig Wylie - winner of the BP Portrait Award 2008
photograph copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Following on from yesterday's post National Art Societies in the UK - Open Exhibition dates and deadlines about the open exhibitions of national art societies, this post highlights the major art competitions in the UK in 2009 and their dates and deadlines - as announced to date. Plus it announces the publication of Art Competitions in the UK - Resources for Artists.

The major art competitions are usually independent of any art society and attract major sponsorship. They typically attract a very significant number of applications.

Some may wonder at the inclusion of the Royal Academy here rather than in yesterday's post. It might be thought that the Royal Academy as a rather grand art society. However in relation to their major Open Exhibition I tend to I think of the Summer Exhibition as having more of the characteristics of a very large art competition. It's certainly one that a number of the other major competitions measure themselves against in terms of number of entries.

I've not included the Turner Prize in the list below as people shortlisted for the Prize are derived from nominations only and the Prize is opaque in the extreme as to process. Also excluded are competitions which are specific to one area of the UK and/or more minor competitions.

Major art competitions in 2009 (and 2010)

• Wildlife Artist of the Year, run by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (Annual): deadline fo entry via website 30th January 2009; exhibition TBA. See Two wildlife art competitions and a snow leopard
• BP Portrait Award (Annual): - receiving day 15 February 2009; exhibition 18 June - 20 September 2009 in the Wolfson Gallery at the National Portrait Gallery followed by a national tour. see BP Portrait Award 2009 - Call for Entries and BP Portrait Award category
• Daiwa Foundation Art Prize (a new prize for 2009): receiving day 2nd March 2009; exhibition Daiwa Foundation Japan House Gallery in London in June 2009 and Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo from 7-21 November2009
• Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (Annual): deadline for entry forms: 17 Match 2009; delivery days: Photographs of sculpture: 17 March, Sculpture selected from photographs: 28 April, Deliveries by transport agents only: 2 April, Glazed works (watercolours, prints, drawings, etc): 3 & 6 April, Unglazed works (oils, acrylics, etc): 7 & 8 April, Architecture: 29 April; Exhibition - 8 June - 16 August 2009 at the Royal Academy of Art
• Bulldog Portrait Bursary: receiving day 11th May 2009. See The Bulldog Bursary - an apprenticeship in portraiture
• Jerwood Sculpture Prize: Details TBA (Parker Harris); Exhibition TBA
  
• Jerwood Drawing Prize: Details TBA (Jerwood Drawing Prize Office Wimbledon College of Art); exhibition TBA
  
• National Exhibition of Wildlife Art: deadline for entry 10th June; exhibition 17th July - 2nd August 2009 at Gordale on the Wirral
  
• BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year Award: deadline for entries 28th February; selected artwork to be displayed in the annual exhibition of the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society and published in BBC Wildlife in August 2009.
• Threadneedle Figurative Art Prize: Registration Deadline: 1 June; Receiving Days (London): 20 & 22 June; Exhibition: 2 - 19 September 2009 at the Mall Galleries See Nina Murdoch wins the Threadneedle Figurative Prize 2008 and related posts listed at the end of that post
  
• RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition: entry details TBA (Parker Harris) exhibition TBA (September?) at the Bankside Gallery. See RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - prizewinners and selected artists and RWS / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2008 - exhibition review
• Lynn Painter Stainers Prize: entry details TBA early 2009 (Parker Harris); exhibition (November?) in Painters Hall - see Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2008 and Exhibition
• ING Discerning Eye: entry details TBA early 2009 (Parker Harris ) receiving days September 2009; exhibition 12th - 22nd November 2009 at the Mall Galleries See ING Discerning Eye 2008 - a review and ING Discerning Eye 2008 - Prizewinners
• John Moore Contemporary Art Prize (Biennial): Stage 1 - Register/submit images early 2010; Stage 2 - shortlist TBA; exhibition Autumn 2010 (FAQs for 2008
  

Yet again, some of the competitions managed to have their dates and details posted well in advance of the deadline for entries. This is extremely helpful to artists wanting to plan ahead.

You can expect to see reviews of most of the exhibitions associated with the above competitions on this blog later in the year. I've included links to past reviews of those I reviewed in 2008.

I've also developed another information site Art Competitions in the UK - Resources for Artists. In part this is because I've never found a site before which lists the major art competitions in the UK for all to see. On my site the major art competitions are grouped by type (eg portraiture; watercolour; figurative). The site has links to related websites and my past blog posts about both entry requirements and reviews of the shows I went to see. It also includes tips about and comments on juried art competitions.

Links:

• National Art Societies in the UK - Open Exhibition dates and deadlines