Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts

Detailed Program Description

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: $5,000

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: $25,000 and $10,000

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. 

State fellows for Visual Arts, including the Southern Prize winner and finalist, will have their work featured in a traveling exhibition that will tour throughout the region. All fellows are required to participate.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Application Available in Salesforce:  October 1, 2025
• Informational Webinar:  October 28, 2025
• Deadline to Submit a Fee-Waiver Request: December 3, 2025
• Application Deadline:  December 10, 2025

Informational Webinar

Learn about the program guidelines, eligibility, and application process for this year’s fellowship.

Download the webinar powerpoint

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Guidelines

While preparing your Southern Prize and State Fellowships application, please refer to the following guidelines. 

Have a question about the guidelines? It may be addressed in our Southern Prize and State Fellowships FAQs.

NEW for the 2026 Application Cycle

All applications must be submitted using the Salesforce Grants portal.

Eligibility

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 aritst 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.  

Residency Verification

To be eligible, you must be a legal resident of the South Arts region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Tennessee). Residency must be continuous for at least two years before the application deadline, and you must maintain residence in your application state for the entire grant period. Applicant must have permanent residential address in the region, as shown on government-issued ID or tax returns; P.O. boxes are not accepted.

• Utility bills with address provided on the fellowship application, and payment receipts.  
• Proof of automobile insurance showing the applicant’s state residency address  
• Active lease agreement, certified deed, or mortgage statement with South Arts regional state address.  
• A valid state motor vehicle registration or state DMV identification card Valid Voter Registration.  
• Other Commercial Correspondence that includes the artist’s home address(es). 

Visual Arts Categories

The following categories describe the types of visual arts eligible for the 2026 call. South Arts encourages applications from self-taught (folk art or vernacular art) artists whose work align with the listed categories. Artists must choose only one of these categories that best correlates to the work samples that will be submitted. If work is best described across multiple categories, the applicant should select the multi-disciplinary 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 (see eligibility above if your work incorporates elements of film, video or media. Please note: a performance element is ineligible).  
• 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 (see Experimental category).  
• 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. 

Work Samples

Applicants must include work samples that represent their current visual arts practice as a component of the submission. Work Samples should be uploaded within the Salesforce application portal and be submitted as follows:

• All work samples must have been produced within the last 5 years (on or after December 2020)  
• Only completed work should be submitted. Works in progress are ineligible. For the purposes of this program, “complete” is the point at which the work is ready for public presentation
• Applicants should include as a part of the work sample, dimensions, year created, artistic mediums for each work sample
• Applicants are encouraged to include a brief explanation of concept, process, and/or technique for each piece in the ‘Additional Details’ field of each file as an opportunity to provide jurors with a context for each image  
• Submit up to 10 high resolution images of your work (each image may be up to 5 MB). Detail images may be included in that number. A composite of multiple pieces, details or views in one image will not be accepted  
• For experimental or Mixed Media works that include video or sound, you may include video or sound files within your total of 10 items  
• Work completed while the applicant was a matriculated student in a graduate, undergraduate, or high school program is ineligible  

Review Process and Criteria

Review Process  
National and regional panelists will review and select nine artists who represent each of the region’s states through a two-tiered adjudication process. Separate national panels will review and select the Southern Prize winner and finalist.  

Review Criteria  
Panelists will make their selections based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the region’s array of artistic expression.  

Awards and Notification

Artists will receive notification of the state fellowship award on or before April 2026. The Southern Prize winner and finalist will be announced at the Southern Prize awards ceremony.  

The Southern Prize and State Fellowship awards are unrestricted and do not have a matching requirement. Each of the 9 competitive state fellowships includes a $5,000 award. The Southern Prize winner will receive an additional $25,000 award while the finalist will receive an additional $10,000 award. 

Expectations of Awardees

Publicity and Awards Ceremony

South Arts State Fellowships are required to attend the Southern Prize awards ceremony. Travel and lodging to attend the awards ceremony will be paid by South Arts. One round-trip flight (or rental car coverage) booked by the awarded fellow and reimbursed by South Arts, and one hotel room will be booke and paid for by South Arts. This offer does not extend to any of the awardee’s guests. 

Expectations of southern prize awardees

You may be invited to participate in additional engagement - in the form of speaking, increased publicity, and more opportunities to display work through South Arts - can be reasonably expected by awarded fellows. Our venue partners manage the logistics of these opportunities. 

Touring Exhibition

State fellows for Visual Arts will have their work included in a touring visual arts exhibition opening in late summer 2026. It is a requirement of the fellowhsip award that fellows make work, that represents the body of work submitted with the applicaiton as work samples, available for the touring exhibition beginning summer 2026 for up to 24 months. South Arts will assume the costs of shipping but will not pay expenses related to making works ready to install, packaging or crating works for shipping, or expenses associated with materials needed to package or crate work. 

For works that are selected for exhibition, state fellows are required to submit complete works including all components needed for video and/or audio installations. 

Use of Funds

There is no requirement for how the state fellows and Southern Prize winner and finalist use the awarded funds. South Arts hopes the money would go towards pursuit of artistic achievement, but awardees are not required to submit their use of the funds for approval. State Fellows should note that the awarded funds constitute taxable income and should file federal, state and local taxes accordingly. Please Note: South Arts cannot accommodate any award distribution adjustments related to tax planning. Awarded fellows should consult with a professional tax accountant for questions regarding tax planning.  

Awarded fellows are expected to write a one-page final report and submit images, as appropriate, on how the awarded funds were used. 

Application Requirements

Applicants to the South Arts State Fellowship program must complete an online application via Salesforce. The application will be open to receive submissions beginning October 1, 2025. The online submittal process will include the following items:  

• Online application  
• A $25 application fee (Please note: If the application fee creates a barrier, the applicant may request a waiver from South Arts by contacting southernprize@southarts.org.)  
• Scanned or photographed copy of applicant’s state-issued identification or driver's license must be submitted with application  
• Work samples - How to Share Work Samples Using a URL For South Arts Grant Applications
• Documentation and Demographic Information    
• An artist statement of up to 250 words is required. If you have not yet developed an artist statement, this article may be helpful.
• Professional Resumé or Curriculum Vitae  
  • This summary should include exhibitions, educational background, arts-related employment, residencies, awards, honors, teaching, publications, and/or other pertinent experience. The resumé can be as brief as one page and up to five pages and should be saved as a pdf file  
     

Technical Assistance and Other Resources

For further information about the Southern Prize and State Fellowhsips Program, please contact Emmitt Stevenson.

The Southern Prize and State Fellowship for Literary and Visual Arts are made possible through very generous donations from individuals, foundations, and organizations. 

The 2025 Southern Prize and State Fellowships program is supported by the State Arts Agencies of South Arts' 9-state region, generous sponsors Southern First Bank, the Warner Fund, the Windgate Foundation, the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, and generous donors. 

For further information about the Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Literary Arts, contact Emmitt Stevenson. 

You can also explore the Southern Prize & State Fellowships FAQs for more details.

Meet the 2024 State Fellows for Visual Arts

Congratulations to the 2024 State Fellows for Visual Arts. An exhibition featuring the 2024 Southern Prize and State Fellows for Visual Arts will be on display from October 19, 2024 - January 5, 2025 at the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood, Florida, before touring to additional locations across our region (dates and locations to be determined).

The Southern Prize for Visual Arts winner and finalist will be named at the exhibition opening reception and awards ceremony on October 19, 2024.

Visit our Exhibitions page to learn more and explore the touring locations.