The Contemporary Painted Portrait | The RP Critical Writing Prize 2023

The inaugural RP Critical Writing Prize is an award for new writing on any aspect of contemporary portrait painting.

The prize is open to all.

Applicants are invited to send a proposal or pitch for a new text, alongside an example of previous writing. Three of the applicants will be selected to realise the proposed text and awarded either the first prize of £500 or one of two ‘special mention’ prizes of £250.

All three texts will be published in the RP Annual Exhibition Catalogue published in May (2024). The catalogue is a well-established document of record within the sector.

 

PRIZE

• The winning essays will be published in The Jackdaw (www.thejackdaw.co.uk)
• £500 First Prize
• £250 Two Special Mentions

One of the aims of the prize is to provide a platform for aspiring writers on the visual arts and specifically to spark intelligent conversation about the contemporary portrait.

THE PANEL

Anthony Connolly ~ President of The Royal Society of Portrait Painters

Alexander Marr ~ Professor of Renaissance and Early Modern Art, University of Cambridge

Laura Gascoigne ~ Art Critic

Alison Smith ~ Chief Curator NPG

ELIGIBILITY 

• The prize is open to all and is free to enter.
• Submissions must be in the English language.
• There is no age limit.
• No formal education or qualification is required to apply for this prize.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit the following three items via email to [email protected]:

1. An example of your writing up to a maximum of 500 words – it can be an entire text or an excerpt, published or unpublished.

We are interested in discovering and supporting new voices who can enliven and popularise discussion of the contemporary painted portrait. The example text you submit does not have to be about portraiture but should preferably be about some aspect of the visual arts or some other form of cultural criticism.

Please note that we are looking for texts which are enquiring, provoking, and jargon-free. We are not looking for academic dissertations or specialist scholarly papers, couched in highly technical or theoretical language, so it is not advisable to submit academic texts.

2. A proposal of not more than 250 words for a new text on the contemporary painted or drawn portrait which, if successful, would be published in its realised form in the Annual RP Catalogue. The text you are pitching to write should be approximately 1000 words and not more than 1500 words. The text could be a review of a forthcoming exhibition, of an existing piece of work, or it could take a more creative or experimental form.

*The 2023 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters runs from 3^rd May to 13^th May and may be a source of reference, although this is not a condition of eligibility.

We recommend you read published works in established journals for reference.

3. A brief CV of no more than two pages of A4 (font size no smaller than 11pt.).

Please note, your proposals and any realised texts may be used to promote the work of the Society and this prize – in print and on the Society’s website and various social media outlets.

DEADLINE: 31^st May 2023

Successful applicants will be notified by the end of August 2023

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES & MONITORING 

We strongly encourage writers who are under-represented within the visual arts to apply, particularly writers with disabilities or long-term health conditions, and artists from low-income, LGBTQI+ and ethnically diverse backgrounds, and those living outside London.

If you face barriers to making this type of application, please contact: [email protected] at least two weeks in advance of the submission deadline to discuss how we might be able to make adjustments to the application requirements to facilitate your application. We are, however, unable to extend the deadline.

PRIVACY

The personal data you give us in submitting to this prize will only be used to process your submission and will be shared with members of the selection panel. We will only contact you in connection to this submission. Your personal data will be kept by the RP for up to 10 years and will only be used by that organisation for its own research, evaluation, reporting and marketing analysis. It will not be passed on to anyone else. If you want to be removed from the Society’s database you can email: [email protected]

You have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if you wish to complain about how your information has been handled.

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