Contemporary Art Writing Prize
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize
Deadline: 20 July 2026 (10am BST)
Prize: £1,000 + publication on Burlington Contemporary and opportunity to publish in The Burlington Magazine
Eligibility: Emerging writers (max. 6 published pieces)
Submission: Email (Word document + submission form)
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize seeks to discover talented writers on contemporary art. The winner of the Prize receives £1,000, their review is published on Burlington Contemporary and they have the opportunity to publish a review of a future contemporary art exhibition in The Burlington Magazine.
Since its foundation in 1903, The Burlington Magazine has considered the art of the present to be as worthy of study as the art of the past. The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize advances this commitment to the study of contemporary art in the Magazine and on Burlington Contemporary. Designed to encourage aspiring writers, the Prize promotes clear, concise and well-structured writing that is able to navigate sophisticated ideas without recourse to over-complex language.
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize is generously funded by the Thistle Trust.
The 2026 Prize
The 2026 Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize is now open for entries. The deadline is 10am BST on Monday 20 July 2026.
This year’s prize will be judged by the artist Amy Sillman and the art historian Richard Shiff.
Submission Criteria and How to Enter
To enter the prize, entrants should submit one unpublished review of one contemporary art exhibition by the specified deadline. As the organisers are based in the United Kingdom, the provided deadline will always be in the GMT/BST time zone. Late entries will not be considered.
Entrants must have published no more than six pieces of writing in print or online, in any language or country, prior to their submission. This does not include personal blogs and websites, but does relate to writing of any sort, on any topic, published by a professional outlet (excluding student newspapers).
Before entering, applicants are encouraged to read reviews recently published in Burlington Contemporary.
Writers who have already been published in The Burlington Magazine or Burlington Contemporary are not eligible to enter.
There is no age limit for applicants.
‘Contemporary’ is defined as art produced since 2000.
The exhibition under review can be staged anywhere in the world, but it should be current or have closed within the last six months at the date of submission.
Texts about the applicant’s own work or project will not be accepted. Poems or visual essays will also not be accepted.
The review must be between 800 and 1,000 words in length and accompanied by up to three low-resolution images.
The submitted review must be written in English and emailed as a Word document (PDFs will not be accepted), together with a completed submission form.