BRAND NEW FORMAT for Landscape Artist of the Year Series 12 (2027) announced!

I can hardly believe it. Landscape Artist of the Year is having a RADICAL change of format for Series 12

• which will be recorded summer this year 
• for broadcast in early 2027.

The Public Announcement - see below

Just over a week ago, I wrote a post titled How Pottery Throwdown is a better programme than Artist of the Year

At the weekend I highlighted in my first review of the new series (Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - Derwent Water) how absolutely ridiculous it is to be deciding who is the best artist for a commission - when all the artists are being asked to paint very different locations - some of which bear no relation whatsoever to the commission!

Back In December, I had the opportunity to chat to a member of the production team - and said what I don't write on this blog.

Yesterday I was told via email that LAOTY is changing its format - but the announcement was not yet public

This morning we have the formal public announcement 

on https://skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/landscape-artist-of-the-year/ of the change I was told about yesterday.  See belo

We have some exciting news. Landscape Artist of the Year is introducing a brand-new format.

For the next series, we’ll select ten artists to take on landscape challenges across the country, returning week after week to create work in new locations. Each episode will see one artist eliminated, giving those who progress the chance to create multiple works and develop their practice over time. More locations mean more time in the pods, greater opportunity to refine your approach, and a fuller chance to show the range and consistency of your work. By following the same artists throughout the series, ideas can evolve and the quality of the work can build.

If you’re a confident, adaptable artist who enjoys responding to different places, conditions and moods, and you’d like the chance to create work in the pods more than once, we’d love to hear from you.

As part of the show we will still be inviting artists to join us as Wildcards and paint along with the pods, but we won’t be running the Wildcards as a competition.

In summary:

• 10 artists (rather than the 8 different artists per episode) will be chosen for the whole series
• one leaves each week
• ALL the artists create artworks at ALL the locations
• More scope for:
• showing what you can do in terms of range and consistency
• getting used to being filmed so you perform better (that's not what they say but it is what will happen)
• artists can still turn up to paint as "Wildcards"
• NO Wildcard competition
• If you apply, your work will be reviewed by prominent judges from the art world. 
• If selected for the show, you will receive £500 for each episode you take part in, plus reimbursement for travel, accommodation, and meal expenses. 
• An additional £10,000 commission will be awarded to the winner.
• the deadline for entries has been brought forward to Monday 23rd March 2026.
  (it was in May before the change).

This televised art competition gives artists four hours to paint a UK landscape. One artist is eliminated each episode, and one finalist is ultimately crowned the winner.

Filming the heats of Landscape Artist of the Year is planned to take place around the UK in Spring/ Summer 2026

The Benefits for Artists

• no more "pot luck" selection with cityscape artists being given rural landscapes - and those who like painting countryside stuck with another monumental structure. That approaches does NOT bring out the best in people
• no more cheap labour for content providers. I've always thought it's a total rip-off to be the one part of the programme they cannot do without - BUT 
• you get no screen credits at the end and 
• no financial benefit for the time involved. 
• So it's progress - even if it could be better.

The Benefits for the LAOTY Programme

• More certainty that the artist who wins the final will be able to cope with a commission - and not disappoint "the client". 
• Cuts down on the administration once you're dealing with the same set of artists each week
• No need to pretend that the wildcard competition is actually a competition when it clearly never was.
• The "wildcards" provide more scope to identify potential artists for the next series - which is what it should have been doing all along! 
• My new top tip will be to go along as a wildcard - because that's the real application for the next series!

Potential Benefits for the Viewer

• I hope we also get a significant increase in educational content in relation to 
• participating artists and 
• the viewing public. 
• To do that they need to involve people who are practicing landscape painters who earn their keep from their paintings - just as Keith and Rich who judge Throwdown are both practicing potters who also run a functioning business!
• we need more specific location based tips. 
• Things to watch our for; 
• the scope for different treatments etc
• how to deal with "weather" when you don't have a pod etc.
• more scope for introducing commission work BEFORE the Final
• standard practice for many plein air painters is to do a plein air sketch at the scene (i.e. the normal pod painting)
• then produce a more worked up version back in the studio

Question Marks

Why call the artists who turn up to paint on the day "Wildcards" if there is no competition? That is just plain nonsensical.

They need to find a new title eg "Plein Air Artists" which is what they are and is the universal term associated with artists paintings views outside i.e. root it in the artistic practice and not the competition.

The Terms and Conditions are still being finalised

• which suggests that this change has not been planned! (Or their project management is appalling!). I think it's the former.
• I won't be writing my Call for Entries post until these are available.