Call for entries: Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

This post will please all watercolour painters. It's all about the 'call for entries' for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. This is due to be formally launched in the Culture Section of the Sunday Times on 9th May.

The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, now in it’s 23rd year, is the largest watercolour competition in the UK, and is one of the only remaining prizes to celebrate the diversity and beauty of the undervalued medium of watercolour. The competition celebrates all works produced in water-based mediums, whether they are abstract, figurative or landscape.

Park, acrylic, gouache and ink on paper, by Jonathan Huxley

What are the main changes for 2010?

1 The Exhibition moves back to the Mall Galleries. I've quizzed both the Bankside Gallery and the Mall Galleries about this when I spotted the absence of the exhibition in the Bankside listings. Both are being diplomatic and fairly silent. I don't think the enormous building works on Blackfriars Bridge which have eliminated Blackfrairs Tube for two years plus render access to the Bankside Gallery more difficult are exactly helping. There's also no question that there's more space in the Mall Galleries for an exhibition of this sort.

I really applauded the link up between the RWS and this competition in 2008. They were natural partners. However some times good ideas just don't work out as you'd hoped.

My view is that, in the future, it would be good to see a relationship with BOTH Watercolour Societies and BOTH galleries - as I'm sure there's scope for activities and displays relating to this exhibition for mutual benefit.

2. The exhibition is much shorter. This year it's just for a week in early November - so no scope for forgetting or getting flu!

3. A new sponsor Smith & Williamson have taken over from the Royal Watercolour Society as the principal sponsor of this exhibition. (I'd include a link but it takes forever to load!)

4. A brand new prize The 2010 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition sees the introduction of a brand new prize - the RI Turner Awards for Young Artists for artists aged 16 to 20 years. I'm going to do a separate post about this next week to make sure it gets a bit more of a profile.

I think this is a totally brilliant idea and am really pleased to see it focusing on artists in this age range. I hope all the secondary schools and art schools will highlight it and enourage young people to enter.

Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Prizes

The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition offers one of the highest valued prizes in the United Kingdom. The first prize is £10,000 and it awards a total of £20,000 to artists who demonstrate a high level of skill and creativity.

Prizes in 2010 include:

• 1st Prize (£10,000),
  
• 2nd Prize (£6,000),
  
• the RI Turner Watercolour Award for Young Artists (totalling £2,000),
  
• the Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize (£1,500), and
  
• the Penguin Classics Commissioning Prize for Cover Art (£500 and a commission to create the cover art for a Penguin classic).

Judges for 2010

The 2010 judges will be:

• Penny Johnson CBE, Director, Government Art Collection
• Lucy Jones, Artist
• Desmond Shawe-Taylor CVO, Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures
• Dr Kim Sloan, Curator, Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum
• Frank Whitford, Critic and Writer, Sunday Times

How to submit work for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

• What can I submit? Artists can submit up to four works at regional venues throughout the UK in June and July.
• What's the deadline for entries? The deadline for entries is in London on 2 and 3 July 2010.
  
• How much does it cost? Entry is £15 per work.
  
• Can I get forms online? Yes. Entry details and application forms should be available online at Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition on the Parker Harris website (they're pointed to the wrong exhibition at the moment and I've alerted Parker Harris)
  
• Can I apply online? No - entry forms should be submitted with the work which needs to be hand delivered to one of the regional venues.
  
• How do I get an application form by post? Send an SAE to: The Watercolour Competition, Parker Harris, PO Box 279, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8YZ.
• How do I entre the Young Artists competition? Entry for these Awards is online only - and is separate.
  
• Further Information Telephone the organisers Parker Harris on 01372 462190 or email watercolour@parkerharris.co.uk.

Note that Parker Harris who organise a number of exhibitions are now also on Facebook and Twitter.

The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition Exhibition

An exhibition of approximately 100 works will be held between 2 - 7 November 2010 at the Mall Galleries, London SW1.

PS I'm off out to see Michelangelo at the Courtauld right now but will be back later to add in links to posts on this blog about past Sunday Times Watercolour Competition/Exhibitions