Call to artists: The Kingston Prize 2023
The ninth biennial Canadian portrait competition will be held in 2023. Eligible entries are portraits of Canadians by Canadian artists, either paintings or drawings. Deadline for entries is 26 April 2023. The Competition for the Kingston Prize is open to Canadian artists aged 18 years and over on the date of the deadline for entries.
Awards: The Kingston Prize of $20,000 and two Honourable Mention awards of $3,000 each. At each exhibition venue, there will be a People’s Choice award of $1,000.
The opening exhibition of thirty finalists will be held at the Firehall Theatre, Gananoque, Ontario, in October 2023.
Please refer to the rules for the 2023 competition to prepare your work. Entries may be submitted between February 6, 2023 and April 26, 2023.
What you need to know to enter
1. Image
A professional-quality, high resolution digital photograph file of your portrait is required for the jury. If you are chosen as a finalist, this image will be used for publication in the catalogue, online and elsewhere.
Required file format: .jpg
File size: Between 1 MB and 4 MB. Larger files will be automatically rejected
Filename convention: LastnameFirstname.jpg (i.e. WhiteJohn.jpg)
[Please do not add additional letters, numbers or dashes to your file name i.e. White_John1.jpg.]
It is recommended that an experienced or professional photographer be engaged to produce the image. Crop the resulting image to just inside the edges of the artwork using photo editing software to produce a .jpg file at 300 pixels per inch.
2. Artist’s Statement, Biography and Curriculum Vitae
The artist must submit a one page document .docx document (Microsoft Word) or .pdf document containing an artist’s statement, biography and CV.
Artist’s Statement: The artist’s statement may describe such topics as the circumstances, the subject, the style, and the philosophical background of the portrait. This statement may be used for press releases and publicity.
Biography: The artist’s biography may contain biographical details, and explain the current direction of the artist’s work and how it relates to the portrait submitted.
Curriculum Vitae (CV): The CV can contain brief summaries of education, awards, solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, employment and other relevant information.
File format: Single page Microsoft Word document (.docx) or Adobe PDF document (.pdf) in 10 or 12 point text.
Filename convention: LastnameFirstname.docx (i.e. WhiteJohn.docx or WhiteJohn.pdf)
Do not add additional letters, numbers or dashes to your file name.
Don’t know how to convert your files to the correct format?
See the ‘How To’ information on the Entry Form page for links to helpful websites.
Entries must be received between Monday, February 6 and Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
Preference is for online entries, however paper entries should be mailed or delivered to:
The Kingston Prize Association
427 Princess Street, Suite 114
Kingston, Ontario K7L 5S9
Successful entries will be acknowledged by email (if provided) or by return of a self-addressed stamped postcard (if provided). If you feel that you have completed the entry process as prescribed and do not receive an acknowledgement, please check your spam folder. If nothing has been received, contact us.
Ready to Apply?
Before you begin, please ensure that you have the following ready:
- Image of your work as specified above
- Artist statement/bio/cv as specified above
- $40 non-refundable entry fee (PayPal or cheque)
Tips on a successful application:
- Your image is important! Please ensure that your image is of high quality, clear, in focus and well-lit so that the jury may properly assess your work.
- Make sure that your files are named as required
- If you are unsure, please ask. Any individual who does not submit the required materials in the proper format may cause their entry to be disqualified.