Introduction
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize seeks to discover talented writers on contemporary art. The winner receives £1,000, and their review is published on Burlington Contemporary. They also have the chance to publish a future contemporary art exhibition review in The Burlington Magazine.
Historical Context
Since its foundation in 1903, The Burlington Magazine has valued the art of the present as much as the art of the past. The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize continues this commitment. It promotes clear, concise, and well-structured writing that handles sophisticated ideas without complex language.
Funding and Judges
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize is funded by the Thistle Trust. This year’s judges are scholar and author Julia Bryan-Wilson and artist Trevor Paglen.
Judge Profiles
Julia Bryan-Wilson: A widely published queer feminist author and Professor of Contemporary Art and LGBTQ+ Studies at Columbia University. Her recent book is “Louise Nevelson’s Sculpture: Drag, Color, Join, Face” (Yale University Press, 2023). She served as President of the International Jury of La Biennale di Venezia in 2024.
Trevor Paglen: An artist whose work spans various disciplines including image-making, sculpture, and investigative journalism. He has had exhibitions at prestigious venues such as the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and Tate Modern. He contributed to the Academy Award-winning film Citizenfour and created a radioactive public sculpture for Fukushima, Japan.
Submission Criteria and How to Enter
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize 2024 is open for entries until 10am on 15th July 2024. Entrants must have published no more than six pieces of writing in print or online. Personal blogs and websites are excluded. Writers previously published in The Burlington Magazine or Burlington Contemporary are not eligible. There is no age limit for applicants.
Submission Guidelines:
- Submit one unpublished review of a contemporary art exhibition (art produced since 2000).
- The exhibition can be staged anywhere in the world but must be current or have closed within the last six months at the date of submission.
- The review should be 800 to 1,000 words long and accompanied by up to three low-resolution images.
- The review must be in English and submitted as a text document to burlingtoncontemporary@burlington.org.uk with a completed submission form.
- Include your full name in the submitted file names.
