Earlier this month I attended the Private View and Awards Announcement for the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League.
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| View of the PV for the RBA Rising Stars Exhibition 2025 - speeches are getting underway |
The Rising Stars art competition does two things:
- it produces a longlist of c.40 young artists (under the age of 35) who become semi-finalisrs for the Rome Scholarship who will have an opportunity to exhibit their artwork in an exhibition at the Royal Overseas League.
- reviewing the artwork and the applications also enables the identification of a shortlist of three artists who then go through a further process of being interviewed for the chance to win the Rome Scholarship - which is certainly a prize any young artist would think worth having
The 3 Selected Finalists are advised to bring with them for interview any sketchbooks or journals which show their exploration of techniques or development of their ideas
The RBA Rome Scholarship
The competition is held as an Open Call by the Royal Society of British
Artists.
- It's open to artists under the age of 35. Those applying need to be:
- living and working in the UK and
- produce figurative artwork which can be a painting, drawing, printmaking or sculpture.
This is the link to the Rome Scholarship 2025 webpage.
It's officially known as The Marianne Von Werther Memorial Award - but in shorthand is also known as the "RBA Rome Scholarship"
The winner's prize comprises
- £5000 prize money
- Four weeks accommodation in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the Sala Uno gallery - a prestigious gallery in the centre of Rome
- Studio space - available within the gallery
- Two meals per day, provided at a nearby restaurant
- Return flights to Rome
The two runners-up also receive £1000
Plus all three candidates will have one work included in the RBA Annual
Exhibition in 2026.
Three Finalists
Here are the three artists who have been selected for a further review of their artwork and sketchbooks as part of a portfolio review / interview.
By way of a preview as to the challenge of the choice for this Scholarship, I will say that the last two winners of this award (Joshua Donkor 2024 and Aelfred Hillman 2023) are both producing exceptional art which is selling phenomenally well.
Below are the three young finalists for 2025 - who were announced at the PV
- TF Ashley @tfashleyart an artist and illustrator based in Oxford, UK. His recent work focuses on large-scale drawing in a wide variety of styles and traditional media and explores our shared human experience, engaging with themes such as identity, migration, and socio-political realities.
- Katie Kaur @katiekaur.art- a half-Indian British artist based in London, currently studying for an MA Painting at the Royal College of Art. Her work seeks a visual language that bridges the material and sensorial, the ephemeral and the physical.
- Ken Nwadiogbu @kennwadiogbu - a Nigerian-born multidisciplinary visual artist, based in London. He's a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London (MA Painting). He creates innovative conceptual drawings and paintings on various surfaces as he engages in multidisciplinary modes. He has also exhibited internationally.
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| The three finalists with the RBA team |
