In response to an arts sector under pressure, Firstsite and Zealous have joined forces to launch The Artist Prize, a brand-new UK-wide open submission prize unlike any other in the country – one that celebrates and supports artists in any medium and at whatever stage of their career they are at. Built on open submission rather than nomination, absolutely anyone, from anywhere in the UK can enter.
The winner will receive £30,000 and a solo exhibition at Firstsite in January 2027.
Entrants will have their work seen by a panel of around 80 judges drawn from arts organisations across the UK who will select a longlist of 200 artists (August 2026).
A final selection panel — including well-known name such as artists Jeremy Deller and Ryan Gander; Maria Balshaw, former Director of Tate; Mariam Zulfiqar, Director of Artangel; curator Ekow Eshun; Louisa Buck, contemporary art correspondent for The Art Newspaper; Julie Lomax, CEO at a-n The Artists Information Company; Katrina Brown, Director of The Common Guild; Joe Hill, Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park; and author of A Black History of Art, Alayo Akinkugbe — will then select 20 shortlisted artists and the eventual winner in March 2027.
The prize widens access to major exhibition opportunities. It is open to anyone making work in the UK, regardless of background, training, or gallery representation. Just submitted work, judged on its merits.
Every stage of the submission and selection process has been intentionally crafted to remove barriers – no nomination, no formal training required.
Applications are now open via The Artist Prize website, with a deadline of 8 July 2026.
The Artist Prize is co-founded by Guy Armitage and Sally Shaw MBE. Guy Armitage is Founder of Zealous, the industry-standard submissions management platform supporting nearly 200,000 creators and hundreds of organisations worldwide. Sally Shaw MBE is Director of Firstsite, Colchester, which won the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021.
Sally says: “The shortlist exhibition will bring together twenty artists working across very different approaches and ideas — a show that feels alive and immediate, reflecting the range of what artists across the UK are making today, and the ideas and issues that are shaping contemporary life. It’s impossible to know exactly what the exhibition will look like at this stage, and that uncertainty is part of what makes it so exciting. For audiences, it’s a chance to encounter a wide range of new artists from across the UK. And for one of those artists, it’s a vital, potentially career changing £30k prize and a solo exhibition with us, a real opportunity to develop their practice further.”
Guy says: “The Artist Prize opens a route to a national community of judges drawn from arts organisations across the UK – no gallery representation required, no training required, no background required. Just the work. Recognition isn’t a reliable measure of talent. The next major artists of our generation are already out there, working, waiting for someone to look. The Artist Prize is how we look.”
