Nominations Are Open for the Annual Helgaard Steyn Awards, Which Will Be Awarded in the Painting Category This Year.
The prizes are awarded in a quadrennial cycle, rotating among the disciplines of musical composition, painting, literature and sculpture.
The value of the prize has increased considerably over the past decades, making the Helgaard Steyn Award one of the most substantial art prizes in the country (exceeding R500 000).
The previous recipients of the Helgaard Steyn Award for Painting are Kagiso Patrick Mautloa, Pippa Skotnes, Nel Erasmus, Robert Hodgins, Cyril Coetzee, Bronwen Findlay and Pauline Gutter. Angela de Jesus of the University of the Free State, Annemi Conradie of North-West University and Shonisani Netshia of the University of Johannesburg are the adjudication panel for the 2023 award.
Nominations for 2023
Requirements and conditions for the nomination of candidates:
1. Any artist of South African birth is eligible for the Helgaard Steyn Award. The prize is awarded for any work of art considered, in the opinion of the panel of adjudicators, to be the most meritorious in the discipline, provided that it was produced during the preceding four years and that it was accessible to the South African public, for example by being included in a public art collection or by being exhibited in a public building or space.
2. The adjudicators interpret the provisions to imply that the merits of the works of art under consideration would include their exemplification of a high level of artistic achievement and innovative leadership maintained by the artist over an extended period of time.
3. Keeping within current practice in the visual arts, ‘painting’ may include work in series, drawings, tapestries, prints and work on paper.
4. Art museums, galleries and their appointees, curators, art consultants and arts practitioners are invited to nominate artworks by submitting a statement of motivation, a curriculum vitae of the artist and the details of the artwork (including visual documentation) to the panel of adjudicators.
5. No correspondence on the merits of any specific award will be undertaken on the behalf of the Trust.
The deadline for nominations is 18th August 2023
Nominations can be submitted online at www.helgaardsteynawards.co.za or send nominations and direct inquiries to info@helgaardsteynawards.co.za
Pippa Skotnes Previous winner Lament/Klaagsang I,II,III,IV (1985), etching on paper, 68 x 47.5cm each Pretoria Art Museum, City of Tshwane – Photos courtesy of Helenus Kruger – Communication, Marketing and Events, City of Tshwane.