The Southern Prize and State Fellowships is open to visual artists in the nine-state region to support, expose, and celebrate the breadth, depth and array of artistic excellence.
Donor Name: South Arts
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Fellowship
Deadline: 12/10/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality artistic work being created in the American South. The program is open to individual artists living in the South Arts region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The cohort of nine-state fellows will be selected through a two-tiered selection process by a national jury. A second national jury will select the Southern Prize Winner and Finalist. Jurors will make their selections based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the array of artistic expression of the region. This program is open to visual artists in several categories.
- South Arts State Fellowships
- The South Arts State Fellowship (state fellowship) is a state-specific prize awarded to artists whose work reflects the best of the visual arts in the South. A national jury will select one awardee per eligible state, based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the region’s array of artistic expression. Each of the nine-state fellowship awardees will receive a $5,000 state fellowship and will compete for one of the two Southern Prizes. State fellowship recipients will be required to attend the awards ceremony in late summer 2026.
- South Arts Southern Prize
- The nine-state fellowship recipients will compete for the Southern Prize. The $25,000 Southern Prize will be awarded to the artist whose work demonstrates the highest artistic excellence, and a runner-up will be awarded a $10,000 Prize. Both Southern Prize recipients will also receive a two-week residency at The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA. A separate national jury will convene to evaluate the body of work represented by the nine-state fellowship recipients and select the Prize winner and finalist. Winners of the Southern Prize will be announced at the awards ceremony.
Category
- Craft: Craft artists have work made substantially by hand, where the skill and technique for manipulating the material is primary to the artistic process. Materials may include clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, paper, plastic, wood.
- Drawing: Drawing includes works created using techniques, materials, media, and methods of drawing, printmaking, collage, book arts, or graphic design.
- Experimental: Experimental work explores new (non-traditional) ideas and/or technology.
- Painting: Paintings are original works that involve painting of any kind on any surface.
- Photography: This category is for artwork in which photographic image is the primary element. This includes traditional photography, as well as works that involve digital or software manipulation of photographs.
- Mixed Media: Artwork in which more than one medium or material is used.
- Multi-Disciplinary: The combination of multiple art disciplines into a single artwork except for work that incorporates film/video/media/performance.
- Sculpture: Three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining materials such as plastic, clay, wire, sound, fiber, textiles, light, stone, metal, glass, wood, or found objects.
- Vernacular Art (Includes Folk Art): visual art created by self-taught artists or creatives who do not define themselves as artists.
Funding Information
- South Arts State Fellowships: $5,000
- South Arts Southern Prize: $25,000 and $10,000
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants to the Southern Prize and State Fellowships program must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Actively practicing Visual Artist.
- An individual artist or a collaborative team of no more than two artists creating original works of art.
- The applicant(s) must be the artist(s) whose original work is represented in the submitted work samples.
- Only one application per artist per grant cycle will be accepted. Artists who are awarded a South Arts State Fellowship are ineligible to apply to the Southern Prize and State Fellowships program for six years (not earlier than 2032). The Southern Prize winner and finalist may not re-apply for a period of 10 years (not earlier than 2036).
- Age 18 or Older.
- Artists must be a legal US citizen or have permission from the Department of Homeland Security to work permanently in the U.S.
- A permanent legal resident of the South Arts’ nine-state region for at least the prior two years (not later than December 2023). The applicant must be a current resident of the State they are applying in at the time of application and agree to maintain residency in that state until June 30, 2027. Applicant must be able to prove current state residency as requested by South Arts staff.
- Cannot be a high school student or matriculated student in a graduate, undergraduate program in the fine arts.
- Submit only one (1) complete, accurate and properly prepared application through the Salesforce application portal.
- NOTE: Film/video/media art are not eligible; however, works can be submitted that support the Experimental or Mixed Media categories including video/film and/or sound.
- South Arts Employees and Board Members and their families are ineligible to apply.
For more information, visit South Arts.
