MAKING A MARK: Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011

The call for entries has been made for the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011. Online registration opened at the beginning of April and the deadline for entries is 20 June 2011.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition represents and celebrates the diversity, excellence, and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

Key facts

The Jerwood Drawing Prize is the country’s leading award in drawing
This is the largest and longest running annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the UK.
Entries can be submitted by established or emerging artists who are resident or domiciled within the UK.
More than 2,000 entries will be submitted.
50 - 70 drawings from around 60-70 artists will be selected for an exhibition at JVA at Jerwood Space, London from 14 September – 30 October 2011. The exhibition will then tour nationally.
Prizes are:

a first prize of £6,000,
a second prize of £3,000, and
two student awards of £1,000 each.

Read on to find out more about the prize and how to enter the 2011 competition.

What is the Jerwood Drawing Prize?

Tattoo Face - by Julie Cockburn (2010)

The Jerwood Drawing Prize started in 1994 and has been held annually every year since 1996.

Today, it is the longest standing annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing practice in the UK.

The aims and objectives of the Jerwood Drawing Prize project are to:

promote the discipline of drawing

provide a forum for the exhibition of current drawing practice;

gain knowledge and understanding about drawing through a 'survey' of artists currently making work within the discipline

situate this discourse within the academic and research context of an art school

support and recognise the work of all artists in the field of drawing as an emerging discipline, including that of established artists and that of emerging artists engaged in the discipline of drawing.

The academic flavour and rigour is because it is part of Jerwood Visual Arts, a major initiative of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. Thus the drawing it tends to favour is the type of contemporary drawing practice found in books like Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing or The Drawing Book.

You can also see some of the drawings which have won in the past in The Jerwood Drawing Archive and in the links to the posts I wrote last year about the 2010 competition (see end of this post)

The 2011 Exhibition

In 2011 the aim is to create an exhibition that represents and celebrates the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK

How do I enter?

Parker Harris provide administrative support for the Prize and details of the Jerwood Drawing Prize are now available to download from The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 website

These are the links:

online registration form
General Information (download as pdf file)
Rules and Conditions of Entry 2011 (download as pdf file)
Help and FAQs 2011 (download as pdf file)

Am I eligible to enter? This is an open competition which is open to all artists resident or domiciled in the UK
What can I enter? The nature of the exhibition is to generate debate about contemporary drawing practice and therefore work in any media is eligible for entry, if the artist considers it as drawing. The selected exhibition will consist of works that in the opinion of the Selection Panel qualify as drawings.

Video and film works are acceptable.
Only work made since January 2010 is eligible for entry.
The maximum size of works accepted for submission is 2m x 2.5m - which includes the frame.
Composite drawings must be presented within one frame. This is to ensure that the selection panel can view the work in its entirety.
Works should be framed for exhibition (detailed requirements stipulated)

All works selected for exhibition will be retained by the Jerwood Drawing Prize until the exhibition at Jerwood Space in September 2011, and subsequent national tour until early Summer 2012. So it's probably not adviseable to submit work you've already sold as you're not going to see it again for a year! ;)

How many drawings can I enter (and what does it cost)? Up to three drawings can be entered costing from £18 for one drawing to £28 for three drawings. You can change your mind about how many you;re entering until a few days before the deadline

How many drawings are entered (and how many get selected)? The entry is expected to be well over 2,000 submissions. From this the selection panel have to choose between 50 and 70 drawings for the exhibition.

What's the deadline? 5pm, Monday 21 June 2011

How do I submit work? An on-line registration process is used to reduce paper usage and speed up the application process.

The registration page is http://www.parkerharris.co.uk/competition/jerwood-drawing-2011

Once registered artists are invited to submit their works through one of the regional collection centres, which include London, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Cornwall, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Liverpool and Norwich.

The ‘Submission and Collection Timetable’ PDF can be downloaded from the Downloads/Links section of competition website. Dates for the London submission of pre-registered works: 2 and 3 July 2010.

Unselected works will be available for collection from Wimbledon College of Art on either Saturday 9 July 2011, 10am to 4pm, or Monday 11 July 2011, 10am to 4pm

Who judges the entries? The annual exhibition is selected by a selection panel of three independent experts, usually an artist, a writer or critic and a museum or gallery director or curator, who also change each year to reflect differing priorities and focus for the drawing within the exhibitions.

The 2011 selection panel are:

Iwona Blazwick - Director, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Tim Marlow - Writer, broadcaster & Director of Exhibitions White Cube, London
Rachel Whiteread - Artist

Each year the selection panel is actively encouraged to collectively consider and define the nature and boundaries of drawing in order to create criteria for the selection of their show.

All artists will be informed by email of the Selection Panel's decision by Friday 8 July 2011.

Are there any awards? There are two student awards, a first and second prize.

First Prize of £6000
Second Prize of £3000
Two Student Awards of £1000 each.

Selected student submissions are only identified to the panel after the first two awards have been decided, and students are eligible to win any of the awards.

When's the exhibition? The exhibition is from 14 September until 30 October 2011 at the Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN

Education events are held during the course of the exhibition. The exhibition subsequently tours to 4 or 5 further venues in the UK.

I've got a query! For further information or answers to general enquiries not covered by the FAQs, please contact the Exhibition Co-ordinators: Parker Harris

T: 01372 462190
E: jdp@parkerharris.co.uk

Links: