SAAG ARTS WRITING PRIZE 2021 | CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
SUBMISSIONS DUE | JULY 5
The Southern Alberta Art Gallery is excited to announce our 10th annual SAAG Arts Writing Prize, with three categories: Arts Writing, Poetry & Prose, and the Aruna D’Souza Award for BIPOC writers. We encourage emerging arts writers, critics, poets and creatives to submit their original, unpublished works. We are excited to see the collection of writing that is presented.Submissions are due Monday, July 5. The requirements and prizes for each category are listed below. Winners will be recognized at the reception in August. All entries are eligible to be published in the SAAG Arts Writing Prize Reader, made in-house at the gallery’s Publication Studio. All participants will receive a complimentary copy of the Writing Prize Reader containing all entries. This event is offered in partnership with Canadian Art and Galleries West.
ELIGIBILITY
Writers must be at least 18 years of age at the time of entry. Applicants for the Arts Writing and Poetry & Prose categories must be residents of residents of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or the Northern Territories. Applicants for the Aruna D’Souza category may be residents of Canada. All submissions must be original and previously unpublished works, inclusive of online publications. Images are welcomed to be included as part of the texts.
Writers retain all copyrights to their work, however consent for publication is required if their work is selected as a winner. Participants may submit to multiple categories, but can only submit one work per category and will only be eligible to win in one category. Students and emerging writers are encouraged to participate.
We ask that all applications include a short biography, and if possible a current CV. Electronic submission is preferred. Please email submissions to Courtney Faulkner, Public Engagement & Event Coordinator, at cfaulkner@saag.ca and use the subject line, “SAAG Arts Writing Prize”, including the competition category: Arts Writing / Poetry & Prose / Aruna D’Souza.
Our panel of judges will include Portia Priegert, Editor for Galleries West Magazine, Adam Whitford, Curatorial & Publications Coordinator for the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, as well as writer and art critic Aruna D’Souza, for whom the Aruna D’Souza award is named.
Aruna D'Souza writes about modern and contemporary art; intersectional feminisms and other forms of politics; and how museums shape our views of each other and the world. Her work appears regularly in 4Columns.org, where she is a member of the editorial advisory board, and is a contributor to The New York Times. Her writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Art News, Garage, Bookforum, Momus, Art in America, and Art Practical, among other places.
Her most recent book, Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts (Badlands Unlimited), was named one of the best art books of 2018 by the New York Times. She is editing a forthcoming volume for Thames and Hudson, Making It Modern: A Linda Nochlin Reader. She is also editor of Lorraine O’Grady’s Writing in Space 1973-2018 (Duke University Press, 2020), and is co-curator of the retrospective of O’Grady’s work, Both/And, which opened in March 2021 at the Brooklyn Museum.
CATEGORIES & PRIZES
ARTS WRITING
Long form text, critical essay, exhibition review, etc.
500 - 1000 word count
Alberta-based writer
$250 prize & paid opportunity to pitch and publish a current exhibition review online in Galleries West Magazine
POETRY & PROSE
Open format poetry, prose, experimental text, creative fiction, etc.
Maximum 1000 word count, Alberta-based writer and $250 prize & Gushel Studio Writers Cottage residency for the month of September, 2021
ARUNA D’SOUZA (BIPOC) [BIPOC+ Arts Writing]
Open format arts writing in any style: poetry, prose, experimental text, creative fiction, short or long form text, critical essay, exhibition review, etc.
Maximum 1000 word count
Author self-identifies as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Colour (BIPOC)
Canada-based writer
$1,000 prize & writing published online in Canadian Art Magazine
SAAG Writing Prize 2021 is in partnership with Canadian Art and Galleries West.
Photo: Dana Hoey
ABOUT ARUNA D'SOUZA
Aruna D'Souza writes about modern and contemporary art; intersectional feminisms and other forms of politics; and how museums shape our views of each other and the world. Her most recent book, Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts (Badlands Unlimited), was named one of the best art books of 2018 by the New York Times. Her work appears regularly in 4Columns.org, where she is a member of the editorial advisory board, and has also been published in The Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Art News, Garage, Bookforum, Momus, Art in America, and Art Practical, among other places.
She is currently editing two forthcoming volumes, Making It Modern: A Linda Nochlin Reader, and Lorraine O’Grady: Writing in Space 1973-2018, and is co-curator of the upcoming retrospective of Lorraine O’Grady’s work, Both/And, which will open in March 2021 at the Brooklyn Museum.
The Aruna D’Souza Arts Writing Prize is presented in partnership with
