The Blake Prize 
The John Coburn Emerging Artist Award

Since its inception in 1951, The Blake Prize has stimulated a fascinating dialogue between art, religion, spirituality and human justice in all its manifestations in Australia.  Many artists who have won the prize have gone on to have long and successful careers as professional artists.

Each year the Blake Prize judging panel awards The John Coburn Emerging Artist Award to an artist that has been practicing professionally for no more than five years.  John Coburn came to prominence as an artist through winning the 1960 Blake Prize.  This enabled him to begin a professional career as an artist.  Throughout his career John was an active supporter of emerging artists.  It is fitting that one of the most popular Blake Prize award categories - the John Coburn Emerging Artist Award – be named after this inspiring artist. 

Why did we fund this Project? To assist emerging artists, the Nelson Meers Foundation is working with the Blake Prize to develop a series of artist fact sheets covering topics such as: photographing works, preparing an artist statement and CV and preparing works for exhibition.The aim of the project is to provide artists with resources that will benefit their art practice long after the deadline for the Blake Prize closes.

The Blake Prize Finalists Announced
The 62nd Blake Prize
Exploring the religious and the spiritual through art and poetry
Exhibition Dates: 18 October to 16 November 2013
Winners Announced: Thursday 17 October

The Blake Society is delighted to announce the shortlist of finalists for the 62nd Blake Prize. The Blake Prize is one of Australia’s longest standing and most prestigious art prizes, which explores the religious and the spiritual through art. From approximately 900 entries received, the finalist selection comprises 73 artists and for the first time in the history of the Blake it includes a representative from every state and territory across Australia (please see final page for full list of finalists).

Judges have praised the exceptional quality of entries for the 2013 Blake Prize. They also noted the diverse range of backgrounds, ages and educations with finalists ranging from leading contemporary practitioners to emerging and self-taught artists. The shortlist includes internationally celebrated artists such as Tony Clark, Rodney Pople and Joan Ross, as well as elder statesmen of the art world such as Franz Kempf and Andrew Nott. The strong number of emerging artists includes young Sydney video artist David Capra and UNSW’s College of Fine Arts (COFA) student Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.

The shortlist includes two artists from ACT; 44 artists from NSW; one artist from the NT; two artists from QLD, three artists from TAS; 13 artists from VIC; three artists from SA; four artists from WA and one artist from overseas (USA). This year, the Blake Society has increased the Blake Prize Award category– taking the total prize pool for the awards to $35,000. The 73 finalists are vying for three awards: the 62nd Blake Prize ($25,000), the MUA Blake Prize for Human Justice ($5,000), and the John Coburn Emerging Artist Award ($5,000).

To view The Blake Prize website, click here.