This month’s art prizes celebrate photography, writing, portraiture and musical theatre. And we have opportunities for artists, playwrights and composers.
Table of Contents
Winners
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026
British photographer Rene Matić is this year’s winner of the prestigious £30,000 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
The Prize rewards artists for projects that have the most significant contribution to international contemporary photography in Europe over the past 12 months. Matić won for the exhibition AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH at CCA Berlin.
Featuring newly produced photographs, installations and sound pieces, AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH is rooted in identity and belonging, subculture, class and family. Matić’s diaristic, snapshot-like photography captures everyday moments with poetic intimacy.
The photographs were combined with collected objects, film and sound to form a vivid and layered portrait of contemporary life. The other three shortlisted artists, Jane Evelyn Atwood, Weronika Gęsicka, and Amak Mahmoodian, each received a £5,000 award.
Orwell Prize for Political Fiction Shortlist
The Orwell Prize aims to encourage good writing and thinking about politics. The judges look for books which best meet George Orwell’s own ambition to make ‘political writing into an art’. The eight finalists for the 2026 Political Fiction Prize are:
- Uprising by Tahmima Anam (Canongate)
- Flashlight by Susan Choi (Jonathan Cape)
- The Comfort of Distant Stars by I.O. Echeruo (Canongate)
- Transcription by Ben Lerner (Granta)
- This is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Bloomsbury)
- Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn (Granta)
- John of John by Douglas Stuart (Picador)
- A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia (Picador)
The winners will be announced at a Prize Ceremony on 25 June 2026 at the Bloomsbury Theatre, University College London.
Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year
Singer Charlotte English from Bird Conservatoire has won the 18th annual Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition.
Affectionately known as SSSSPOTY, the final was aptly held in the Sondheim Theatre in the West End. English won the competition with a moving rendition of ‘I Read’ from the Sondheim musical Passion. She wins an award of £1,000 and the chance to headline her own Sondheim-infused cabaret in London.
Taziva-Faye Kastsande, also from Bird Conservatoire, was runner up with ‘Last Midnight’ from Into The Woods. Rosie Sutton, from the University of Oxford, singing ‘Getting Married Today’ from Company, received the new 3rd prize, donated in memory of critic and Stephen Sondheim Society member, Jeremy Chapman.
More than 350 video submissions were received for this year’s competition, with 81 entrants qualifying for a live audition.
Dylan Thomas Prize
American poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney is the 2026 winner of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize. This is the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for writers aged 39 and under. Debevec-McKenney was selected for her debut collection Joy Is My Middle Name.
These poems document the journey of crawling through your twenties and emerging into your thirties, navigating sex, race, womanhood, addiction, sobriety, consumerism and pop culture. Debevec-McKenney received the £20,000 prize at a ceremony held in Swansea University’s Great Hall to mark International Dylan Thomas Day in May.
Footnote x Counterpoints Prize for Fiction 2026
The shortlist for the Footnote x Counterpoints Prize 2026 has been announced, with six writers nominated. The prize highlights writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds whose work explores themes of displacement, courage and belonging. It champions bold new literary voices that offer fresh perspectives on our world.
The Prize is worth £15,000 and includes a £7,500 cash prize along with a publication agreement with Footnote Press and an advance of a further £7,500. The six shortlisted authors are:
- Eleanor Chan for When I Bleed It Is Like a Squashed Raspberry
- Jose Hall for What The Trees Remember
- Erica Li for A Thousand Rivers of Time
- Joel Mordi for Backward Into the Future: ‘Her Past Was His Future’
- Ahmed Najar for The Weight of Staying
- Maryam Namazie for Bird of Dawn
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award Shortlist
The National Portrait Gallery has shortlisted four artists for its prestigious annual Portrait Award with 52 portraits selected for display at the National Portrait Gallery. The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award celebrates the very best in contemporary portraiture and is one of the most important platforms for portrait painters today.
The artworks explore a variety of approaches to portraiture, from the classic to the contemporary. Since its inception, the competition has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries and has been seen by over six million people.
This highly competitive award encourages artists to develop the theme of portraiture in their work. Using an impressive range and complexity of skill, artists explore both classical and innovative techniques that show the enduring relevance of portraiture today. The four shortlisted portraits are:
- What’s Mine is Yours (2024) by Chloe Cox
- Jean-Denis (2025) by Marc Dalessio
- In Our Borderlands (2025) by Joel Nichols
- Charlie and Magda (2026) by Michael Slusakowicz
This year’s shortlist was selected from over 1,474 entries from artists across 63 countries.
The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Awardexhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery from 25 June to 7 October 2026.
Women’s Prize for Fiction & Non-Fiction
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan (Hutchinson Heinemann), by Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet, has won the 2026 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.
This is the debut book by Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent. American author Virginia Evans was awarded the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction for The Correspondent (Michael Joseph Ltd). Composed of letters to friends, family and real-life authors, The Correspondent is an uplifting and moving novel that confronts the hubris of youth with the wisdom of older age.
2026 Football Art Prize
The winners of the 2026 Football Art Prize were announced on the opening day of the FIFA World Cup. Manchester-based visual artist Alina Akbar won the First Prize of £5,000 for her film Footwork. Sheffield artist Conor Rogers was awarded the £2,000 Second Prize for his Betting Slip series of paintings.
The Football Art Prize exhibition is on display at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, from to 13 September and then opens at the National Football Museum in Manchester from November 2026 to February 2027.
Opportunities
ACS Studio Prize 2026
The Artists Collecting Society (ACS) Studio Prize offers recent graduates £6,000 towards the cost of securing a studio in a UK city of their choice. Now in its tenth edition, the prize acknowledges the economic challenges faced by early career artists, particularly the difficulty of finding affordable studio space. Shortlisted finalists gain exposure through a group exhibition at Gurr Johns in London.
The 2026 jury includes art dealer Philip Mould OBE, artist David Dawson, National Gallery Director Sir Gabriele Finaldi, and ACS Chairman Viscountess Bridgeman CBE. The Prize is open to art students from the UK, EEA, Australia, and New Zealand, who are about to graduate, or have graduated in the last four years.
Applications for the ACS Studio Prize close on 30 June 2026.
Fair Play Art Fair
Artists are invited to apply now for a free stand at the first London Fair Play Art Fair coming up in October. Fair Play is a curated art fair for independent artists, presented alongside a wider program of performances and events. Artists are selected by the curators on merit, not budget.
This is a great opportunity to exhibit at One Marylebone, just moments away from Regents Park and all the buzz of Frieze. Founded by Ryan Stanier (creator of The Other Art Fair), Fair Play is shaped by many years of experience working closely with emerging and established artists across the world and rethinks the traditional art fair model.
This is a new and fully focused platform designed to connect outstanding artists with engaged collectors during Frieze Week.
Fair Play Art Fair is 15 to 18 October 2026 at One Marylebone; applications close 22 June 2026.
The Ivors Composer Awards 2026
Presented by The Ivors Academy, the Ivors Composer Awards celebrate creative excellence in British and Irish composing across live performances, commercial recordings, community engagement, film, television, and video games.
The awards champion composers and contemporary composition across all genres and disciplines, celebrating music that demonstrates exceptional craft, originality and impact with audiences. Eligible works span a broad range of contemporary composition, from orchestral and chamber works to electronically produced music, and jazz, as well as interdisciplinary performance such as dance, theatre and opera.
There are nine categories open for entries ranging from Best Large-Scale Composition to Best Original Video Game Score and Best Original Film Score.
Entries close 10 July 2026
Royal Society of Marine Artists Open Call
The Royal Society of Marine Artists seeks submissions of artworks inspired by the sea and marine environment, including harbours and shorelines, creeks, beaches, wildlife and shipping – in short, anything that involves tidal water.
The Society’s Annual Exhibition, held at Mall Galleries, is widely recognised as a showcase for the best in contemporary marine art, with selected works from the open call hung alongside the work of members.
There are several prizes and awards, worth over £5,000. This includes The Charles Pears Award for an outstanding work by a non-member, presented in memory of the Society’s founder and first President in 1939.
Entries for the RSMA Open Call close 24 July 2026.
Polka Playwriting Award
Wimbledon’s Polka Theatre has announced the 2026 Polka Playwriting Award for young audiences. This is the only award of its kind, championing original theatre for children aged 7 to 13, and seeks to address a significant gap in the industry, where few major playwriting prizes accept or prioritise work for young audiences.
It aims to spotlight the craft and imagination required to write for this age group, while encouraging new voices and stories that reflect a wide range of lived experiences. The winning playwright will receive a full staging of their work and publication by Methuen Drama.
Submissions close at midday on 19 July 2026 and must be sent anonymously by email to [email protected].
