Deadline for The Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year approaches as 2020 judging panel named for this year’s competition
The sixth edition of the C-Art Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year competition is now open for submissions, open to 15 - 24yr olds who live, work or are from Cumbria. The competition takes place alongside an exhibition of the submitted works at the Vallum Gallery, University of Cumbria, taking place in March.
Each year a team of professional artists and practitioners are invited to judge the entries and this year is no different. A panel of cross sector experts have been assembled which include glasgow based artist Deirdre Nelson, bringing her expertise in socially engaged practice, in her own practice Deirdre works with architects, health organisations, musicians and writers to explore social and environmental issues; Paul Kondras, who set up White Elephant Contemporary Art Gallery in Morecambe to create an open and welcoming space; and Windermere based Sophia Newton, who since running galleries and exhibitions jointly set up the energetic and progressive marketing agency Flock in 2017 and hosts regular networking events alongside PR and social campaigns.
Previous winners have gone on to win artist travel grants, study at University, undertake MA courses, build their confidence as an artist and perform as part of Manchester Fringe.
2019 winner Poppy Cookson commented on winning the award ‘I am over the moon to win the award, I can’t quite believe it. It has been a fantastic opportunity and I am so glad I applied. I think this will definitely open doors for me and I am really excited for what is to come’.
Previous winners also include Emeli Hartness, 2017, Adam Story, 2016, Bronny Slater in 2015 and Liam Collins in 2014.
In addition to awarding the Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year £250 cash prize, this year the judges are also awarding two ‘Highly Commended’ prizes with £125 cash prize thanks to sponsorship from University of Cumbria.
Entry is made online and requires a short statement alongside images of the artists work. This will be used to judge the award and select the exhibition with a long-list of entries featured on the Eden Arts website.
Artists aged between 15-24 yrs can enter by visiting edenarts.co.uk/ycaoty. Deadline for entries is 2nd February 2020.
