Deadline: 17 November 2026
The 9th John Ruskin Prize — "Not for Present Delight"2027
- Submission Deadline: Tuesday 17 November 2026, 5pm (UK time)
- Animation
- Ceramics
- Collage (in all materials including photography)
- Combined work using traditional media and digital elements
- Digital artworks
- Drawings (all formats)
- Film / Video
- Glasswork (stained glass, engraved glass, etc.)
- Installation
- Paintings (all kinds and formats)
- Performative work (presented in film format)
- Photography
- Photographic elements (including manipulated or collaged)
- Print (etching, printmaking, lettering in all mediums)
- Sculpture (including lettering in all mediums)
- Sculptural work with film/animation elements
- Textiles and fabric
- Typography and Calligraphy
- Metalwork (including gold/silversmithing and heavy metalwork)
- Open to artists, designers and makers worldwide aged 18 or over, amateur or professional
- Both individual artists/designers and collectives are eligible
- Work must have been made within the past 4 years
- Submissions must be in digital format (work will be viewed and judged digitally)
- Work must engage with the theme "Not for Present Delight"
- Installation pieces comprising multiple smaller works, diptychs and triptychs are considered as a single artwork
- Standard entry: £25 for 1 artwork / £40 for 2 artworks / £50 for 3 artworks
- Under 26 entry: £20 for 1 artwork / £25 for 2 artworks / £38 for 3 artworks
- International digital entry: £15 for 1 artwork / £20 for 2 artworks / £30 for 3 artworks
- Four prizes totaling £9,500:
- First Prize: £3,000 (supported by the Guild of St George)
- The Alan Davidson Under 26 Prize: £1,000 (sponsored by The Alan Davidson Foundation)
- Ruskin Mill Trust Prize: £3,000 (awarded for a beautifully crafted functional object)
- Chelsea Arts Club Trust Prize for mid-career: £2,500 (awarded to a mid-career artist dedicated to their practice without current gallery representation)
- Shortlisted works selected for exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
- International exposure and industry recognition
Description:
The John Ruskin Prize is one of the fastest-growing multidisciplinary art prizes in the UK, founded by the Guild of St George (the educational charity established by John Ruskin himself) in 2012, and now managed by Parker Harris under The Big Draw. The 9th edition is themed "Not for Present Delight," drawing from Ruskin's words in The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1848): "Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for." In a time defined by environmental urgency and social inequality, the theme invites creators to reflect on responsibility, consequence-awareness, and forward-thinking intention in their practice. The exhibition welcomes work that functions as a tool for change or critique, while also posing the challenge: must art serve a purpose beyond itself? Can it exist simply for pleasure, independent of moral or social obligation? The judging panel includes figurative painter Miranda Forrester, artist and designer Adam Nathaniel Furman, Royal Drawing School Artistic Director Ishbel Myerscough RA, and clay artist and curator Clare Twomey, ensuring a fair and balanced cross-disciplinary selection process.
