2026 art writing prize

The Art Writing Prize seeks to discover and celebrate innovative forms of art writing. The term ‘art writing’ refers to forms of writerly practice that hold a central concern with the condition and possible forms of art making. It therefore encompasses writing that is about art — essays, reviews, criticism, fiction — as well as visual art which incorporates forms of writing, with submissions encouraged from artists, curators, art historians and critics, as well as other interdisciplinary practitioners.

The scheme is particularly interested in submissions which demonstrate innovative or experimental approach to form and/or engage different modes of witnessing, activation, or inquiry, as well as writing which opens dialogues with different modes of viewing, making, and remembering that might help shift expectations of the experience we identify as art.

Grants are made exclusively to individuals as well as collaborative or collective practices that produce work as a single identity and are not formally incorporated as an organisation of any charitable or commercial nature.