New Zealand Academy of Fine ArtsThe New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts has announced a new national Academy Prize for Visual Art competition with a prize of $25,000.
The Academy of Fine Arts has worked closely with Wellington City Council and Takina management to secure the ground floor of Takina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre to host an Academy Prize for Visual Art exhibition in August this year.
The cancellation of the Parkin Drawing Prize 2025, due to a mix of factors that includes the sale of the Academy Galleries last year and difficulties in finding a suitable venue, has been a serious loss for the many hundreds of artists who have entered regularly for many years.
The Academy has sought to redress that loss. The great advantage of Takina as a venue is that the space allows almost every entry to be hung and exhibited. So, the Academy Prize for Visual Art competition is offering that guarantee. The entry fee has been set quite high to encourage serious entries and avoid frivolous entries for this reason.
As well as three selectors, who will each choose 25 works to be finalists for the Academy Prize for Visual Art, the usual People’s Choice Award common to so many art exhibitions would be elevated in this competition. The 25 entries receiving the most votes from the public in on-line voting before the exhibition opens will also go into the finalists’ pool and be eligible to win the national prize.
The finalists will be revealed and the winners of the $25,000 prize and five merit awards of $1,000 each will be announced at an invitation-only gala awards ceremony held in Takina on the evening of 7 August.
