Awards & Grants with Huge Cash Prizes
We’ve gathered a list of international art awards that generate public recognition on top of the always valuable, cash prize!
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Currently Accepting Applications
Applications for these prizes are currently open. Be sure to check the deadlines, as many programmes only open once or twice a year.
World Photography Organisation— Sony World Photographer of the Year
With its unparalleled reach, the Sony World Photography Awards elevate the careers of photographers to the next level. The series competition overall winner is crowed the ‘Photographer of the Year’ and receives the prestigious grand prize. The competition are open to photographers worldwide.
Rewards: $25,000 prize, equipment, and solo exhibition in London
The Bennett Prize is a stipend program established to support the fine art practice of a woman painter working in figurative realism. The Bennett Prize, is awarded biennially, and the call for entries is currently open for 2027. The prize is open only to women eighteen years or older residing at least part time in the United States who identifies as a woman, regardless of their assigned gender at birth.
Rewards: $75,000 prize for first place, traveling exhibition for finalists, and $10,000 for the runner up
Be Still Media— Prompt #28
Be Still Media has announced their latest open call for their huge prize, with the prompt: "Friction-maxxing is a labour of love"
They ask; as artists, how can we bend into today’s prevailing headwinds ~ for flourishing ~ where friction-maxxing is a labour of love? All artists are encouraged to submit work for the prize, regardless of medium.
Rewards: $15,000 prize for first place
Image: Home Workspace Program 2011-12 Open Studios
Denver Art Museum — James Balog Earth Vision Awards
The James Balog Earth Vision Awards (JBEVA) are juried prizes that are intended to support photographers who are responding to today’s complex environmental issues through innovative photography. The JBEVAward competition is open to photographers worldwide.
Rewards: First Prize $40,000, Finalist $25,000
Loewe Foundation— Craft Prize 2027
The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize seeks to acknowledge international artisans of any age (over 18) or gender who demonstrate an exceptional ability to create objects of superior aesthetic value. By identifying work that reinterprets existing knowledge to make it relevant today while reflecting its maker’s personal language and distinct hand, the Loewe Foundation aims to highlight the continuing contribution of craft to the culture of our time.
Rewards: First Prize €50,000, €5,000 prize for special mentions, exhibition, catalogue, and more
Luxembourg Art Prize — Craft Prize 2027
The Luxembourg Art Prize aims to reveal and promote talented artists who have yet to establish a profile on the contemporary international scene. Its function is to discover artists, and it is open to any artist, amateur or professional, with no limits on age, nationality or place of residence. The prize is aimed at artists working in one or more of the following media: drawing, printing, installation, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, decorative art (textiles and material, glass, wood, metal, ceramics, mosaic, paper or other techniques).
Rewards: €20,000 for 1st place, €10,000 for 2nd place, and €5,000 for 3rd place
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant — Grant for Artists
Provides grants to painters, sculptors, and artists working on paper, including printmakers. Grants are intended for one year and can be up to $50,000, depending on the artist's circumstances and professional exhibition history.
Rewards: up to $50,000 in funding
Artadia— Awards
The Artadia Awards provide financial support, exposure and recognition to artists. The awards are unrestricted, allowing artists to use the funds in any way they choose. Each year, an open-call application is made available in each of the seven active partner cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco Bay Area.
Currently they are accepting applications for Boston award.
Rewards: $15,000 award
IAAC— International Awards for Art Criticism
The Organising Committee of the International Awards for Art Criticism aims to support independent critical coverage of contemporary art, away from the immediate pressures of the market, media and private patronage. The Twelfth Edition is open to candidates from anywhere in the world writing in Chinese or English about any contemporary art exhibition held anywhere in the world or on-line between 1 September 2025 and 31 August 2026.
Rewards: €10,000 for first prize and €3,500 for second prize
Graham Foundation — Grants for Individuals
The Graham Foundation offers two types of grants to individuals: Production and Presentation Grants and Research and Development Grants.
Rewards: $10,000 Research and Development Grant, $20,000 Production and Presentation Grant
Image: Cerith Wyn Evans, Forms in Space…by Light (in Time), 2017. © Tate. Photo by Joe Humphrys.
PLAN AHEAD
Coming Back Soon
These open calls return annually, some even more frequently, and are well worth bookmarking.
The E.SUN Art Awards accept submissions from artists worldwide, with a top prize of $36,000. The award includes multiple prize categories and an exhibition opportunity in Taiwan.
Stay up to date with the annual open call via their ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: first place is $36,000
Gottlieb Foundation— Individual Support Grants
The Foundation conceived this grant program in order to recognize and support the serious, fully-committed artist. They encourage applications from artists who have dedicated their lives to developing their work, regardless of their level of commercial success. These grants are available only to individual painters, sculptors, and printmakers who have worked in a mature phase of art for 20 years or more.
Applications for the 2027 grant cycle will be accepted beginning October 15, 2026. Stay up to date with the annual open call via their ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: $25,000 grants
PleinAir Salon— Annual Art Competition
The Annual PleinAir Salon is an online art competition with 12 monthly cycles that is open to a variety of mediums and styles, and it’s not just for plein air painters! They invite a variety of top master artists, museum directors and gallery owners to judge each month. All monthly winners are automatically included in the annual competition where the Grand Prize winner receives $15,000 and has their painting featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine.
Stay up to date with their upcoming open calls on their ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: Combined $50,000 in cash prizes throughout the year
Faena Art — Prize for the Arts
Faena Art is a transformative bridge across the Americas, between the south and the north, the popular and the experimental. Faena Art fosters new models for performative social interaction that transcend the traditional boundaries of art, science, philosophy, and social practice.
One of the Americas’ most prestigious art awards, the Faena Prize for the Arts is offered to artists at all stages in their careers to engage in critical reflection on the present moment and its ever-changing nature.
Stay up to date with their open calls on their ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: $100,000 for winning proposal
Ellis Beauregard Foundation — Visual Arts Award
This award is open to visual artists residing in the United States. The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation invites the awardee to bring a presentation of their choice to our Exhibition/Performance space in Rockland, Maine.
Applications should reopen in June, stay up today on their ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: $50,000 and exhibition
Bobby Anspach Studios Foundation — Grant Program
This grant initiative celebrates artist Bobby Anspach’s long-held vision while looking forward, investing in artists across disciplines who are exploring how creative empathy can deepen human connection, address our social condition, and inspire ecological transformation. The program will award five unrestricted grants to artists whose work embodies this ethos.
Applications for the 2027 cycle will open later this year, stay tuned on their ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: Two $50,000 grants and three $10,000 grants
CatchLight— Global Fellowship
Through this program, CatchLight supports individuals who want to cultivate significant audience engagement through inventive distribution methods that will increase the impact of their work. Since 2017, the CatchLight has awarded $30,000 to 26 innovative visual storytellers covering a multitude of topics and come from all over the world.
Applications will likely reopen in mid-November, stay tuned at CatchLight’s ArtConnect profile.
Rewards: $30,000 award, paid travel and accommodations for the CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit in San Francisco & more.
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