Awards and opportunities – quick links
Arts prize winners & finalists
David and Yuko Juda Art Foundation Grant
Iranian-British multimedia artist Soheila Sokhanvari has been awarded the £50,000 David and Yuko Juda Art Foundation Grant for 2026.
Sokhanvari’s work explores memory, identity and cultural displacement through painting, drawing and installation. Trained initially in biochemistry before turning to fine art, she employs the traditional technique of egg tempera on calf vellum, grinding her own pigments to create works that evoke the precision of illuminated manuscripts.
The grant is designed to provide artists with meaningful financial support and the freedom to focus on the development of their practice. A second grant of £10,000 was awarded this year to Olivia Sterling, a London-based painter whose vividly coloured, tightly composed works examine race, class, gender and social status through scenes of everyday British life.
Alongside Sokhanvari and Sterling, the shortlist for 2026 included Laia Abril, Aziza Kadyri, Amak Mahmoodian, Niamh O’Malley and Ro Robertson. They were selected by Alyce Mahon, an acclaimed author and art historian, and Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Cambridge.
The exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists and winners continues at Annely Juda Fine Art’s new gallery in Hanover Square, London to 19 September.
London Design Medals
The recipients of the 2026 London Design Medals are Jonathan Anderson (who receives the London Design Medal), Anab Jain (Design Innovation) and Solveiga Pakštaitė (Emerging Design).
The British cultural historian, academic, broadcaster and champion of design education Sir Christopher Frayling received the Medal for Lifetime Achievement.
The winners were selected by a jury of global creatives led by Director of the London Design Festival, Ben Evans. Judges said the winning quartet embodies the breadth of creativity and ingenuity at the heart of London’s creative industries.
Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Longlist
The longlist for the 2026 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction features 13 books by British and international authors across a wide range of topics. There are vivid biographies, tales of life and death, a portrait of Alexander the Great, and sweeping stories of intrigue and espionage. The titles are:
- Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945 by Ian Buruma (Atlantic Non-Fiction, Atlantic Books)
- Murder In Paris ’68: A true story of death and glamour by Edward Chisholm (Monoray, Octopus Publishing Group)
- Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Revolution by Anand Gopal (Pluto Press)
- Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War by Charlotte Higgins (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, Penguin Random House)
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, Pan Macmillan)
- Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War’s Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre (Viking, Penguin General)
- The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World by Bojan Pancevski (Hutchinson Heinemann, Cornerstone)
- Alexander: God, King, Man by Edmund Richardson (Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska (Allen Lane, Penguin Press)
- Never Say War: Life Inside Russia by Åsne Seierstad, translated by Siân Mackie (Virago, Little, Brown Book Group)
- The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland by Matthew Sweet (Hodder & Stoughton)
- The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity by Andrea Wulf (Allen Lane, Penguin Press)
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist will be published on 1 October, with the winner to be announced on 4 November.
Great British Theatres Awards
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Theatres Trust has launched a new awards program dedicated to the theatre buildings and spaces where extraordinary performances come to life and where communities gather to connect.
The Great British Theatres Awards recognise excellence across 10 categories, ranging from Shining Stars and New Builds to Green Theatres and Found Spaces. The newest theatre in the West End, @sohoplace, is a finalist in the Great New Build category.
The finalists have been chosen from more than 200 nominations of theatres nationwide.
Edinburgh Comedy Awards
Chris Cantrill and Marty Gleeson are the winners of the 2026 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. The longest-running and most prestigious accolades in the world of comedy, the awards are known as the ‘Oscars of Comedy’. They have discovered and nurtured generations of comedic talent since their inception in 1981 and continue to launch or turbo-charge the careers of comedians from around the world.
Chris Cantrill won Best Comedy Show for Rewilding, described as a ‘twisted tale’ about how life in Cantrill’s peaceful countryside community was disrupted by a heinous act of vandalism. Irish comedian Marty Gleeson won the Best Newcomer Award for Dog Ear, a play inspired by her time at art school in Limerick.
Opportunities for artists & creatives
Queer Britain Art Award
The Queer Britain Art Award returns to celebrate queer creativity for its fifth and biggest year yet with an international open call. The award celebrates the confluence between art and LGBTQIA+ culture and community and is dedicated to honouring and celebrating queer artists, artworks working within this theme, and those within the community.
It is open to anyone aged 18 and over, at any career stage. All 2D and 3D forms of media are welcome, including but not limited to painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, craft practices, performance and moving image.
Up to 80 works will be selected by the judging panel for an exhibition to be held in London in December. The first prize winner will receive £1500, with second and third place winners receiving £1000 and £500. Entries close 29 September.
200 Creators Network Open Call
The National Gallery has launched its 200 Creators Network for 2026 and 2027. This year, 50 new digital creators will be selected to help celebrate the gallery’s collection. Participants in the 200 Creators Network have opportunities to meet National Gallery staff and see behind-the-scenes of this great collection. The gallery wants creators to be inspired and to create and share content with their online communities.
There are also four paid opportunities to work with the gallery throughout the year as Creative Collaborators. The gallery says that, as a guide, content creators should have 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, 1 million likes and 50,000 followers on TikTok, or 100,000 followers on Instagram; be over 18; and based in the UK. Applications close 27 September.
Royal Institute of Oil Painters Open Call
Artists are invited to submit work, alongside members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, for the institute’s annual exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries. This prestigious exhibition is a showcase for the very best of fine art inspired by the natural world, with prizes and awards worth over £10,000, including the Roger Remington Award of £4000.
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters was founded in 1882 and is the only major British art society that promotes and exhibits works exclusively in oil paint. Works may be on all subjects and styles, from plein air to landscape, still life, portraiture and abstraction.
This year’s (optional) theme is ‘Winter Rituals’ for which there is a special themed painting prize. It invites oil painters to explore the traditions, repeated actions, gestures and rhythms that shape our experience of winter, from personal routines and acts of devotion to cultural traditions and collective gatherings. Entries close 9 October.
Scottish Society of Artists Open Call
Applications are now open for the 128th annual exhibition of the Scottish Society of Artists, taking place at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh in 2027. The society’s annual exhibition is one of the largest contemporary art exhibitions in Scotland and is produced entirely by the artist community with no public funding. Artists are invited to submit work in many mediums including painting, printmaking, photography, textiles, drawing, and sculpture. Entries close 7 October.
We Are Unlimited Partner Awards
Unlimited is a major non-profit that creates resources for artists, arts and cultural workers, creatives and producers that are inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. This year, Unlimited is partnering with a range of organisations to offer 11 awards, with a pool of £280,000, to help disabled artists bring ambitious new works to life. There are eight awards available for disabled artists based in England (ranging from £15,000 to £40,000), as well as two in Scotland (worth £15,000 and £40,000) and one in Wales (£20,000). Entries close 29 September.
