Submissions open for Arts and Letters Awards Program (Canada)

Deadline: 20 November 2024

Submissions are now open for the Arts and Letters Awards Program to encourage the creation of new works of art by residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Arts and Letters Awards Program was established in 1952 to encourage the creation of new works of art by residents of Newfoundland and Labrador. Open to both professional and non-professional artists of all ages, each year this program recognizes excellence through the awarding of monetary prizes and the opportunity for winners to participate in an annual exhibition at The Rooms.

Prize Information

All entrants receive a written adjudication, and winners receive a cash prize ($1,000 senior; $350 junior; $2,500 Percy Janes First Novel Award)

Eligibility Criteria

Open to both professional and non-professional artists of all ages, each year this program recognizes excellence through the awarding of monetary prizes and the opportunity for winners to participate in an annual exhibition at The Rooms. Original creative work in literature, music, visual art, and media arts are eligible.
You must be a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador for a minimum of 12 consecutive months at the time of entry (proof of residency may be requested).
Divisions:
- Senior Division:
  - Age 21 years & over by November 20, 2024
- Junior Division (two levels):
  - Ages 15 years & under by November 20, 2024
  - Ages 16-20 years by November 20, 2024

Application Requirements

Each entry must be accompanied by an application form confirming the work:
- was completed within the last 12 months
- is the result of individual effort (group creations are not eligible)
- has not won any public competition
- will not be published, exhibited or otherwise publicly presented, including on any social media platforms, before April 18, 2025
- has not previously been submitted to the Arts and Letters Awards Program
- is original.
Original Work:
- Any visual art entry that is a copy of an artwork (or part of an artwork) created by another person, even with the creator’s permission or when the work is in the public domain, will not be considered original artwork and will be disqualified. This includes recreating the original in a different medium.
- Any literary entry that plagiarizes another work will be disqualified. Plagiarism is the word for word duplication of a section of someone else’s work. The Arts and Letters Awards Program carries out random plagiarism checks each year.
Your name must not appear anywhere on the work.
Adjudication:
- All prizes are at the discretion of adjudicators.
- A brief written adjudication of each entry will be provided, if requested.
- Do not submit additional comments/explanations/statements. These will not be forwarded to the adjudicators.
All possible care is taken of entries selected for exhibition; however, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not responsible for uncollected artwork, or loss or damage by accident, theft, fire or otherwise. Government assumes no responsibility for the safe transportation or insurance of any entry selected for exhibition.
The copyright remains the property of the entrant.
Digital Delivery:
- Submit application forms and creative works as separate attachments. Do not paste the form or work into the body of the email.
- Submissions will be accepted by email as PDF, JPEG, MP3, and MP4 files. For large visual art or digital multimedia files, you may want to consider submitting your entry by WeTransfer. Entries submitted through any other means (Dropbox, Google docs, zip drives) will not be accepted.
Application forms:
- The Application Form is available as a fillable PDF or Word document. If you have trouble filling in the form, we suggest you print, complete by hand, scan and email.
- Please remember to save your PDF before emailing.
Emails and attachments:
- Indicate the section and division in the subject line of your email; for example: “Visual, Senior; Music, Junior 16-20”
- Title each attachment; for example: “Application form, Poetry, Music, Visual”
- When submitting to more than one category, provide a separate form and email for each work.
Winners in the 2024 Senior Division are not permitted to enter work in the same section for 2025. Special note for Literary: because the Senior Literary Section includes four genres (Poetry, Short Fiction, Nonfiction and Dramatic Script), a 2024 winner is permitted to enter a different genre in the Literary Section for 2025 (e.g., a winner in Poetry in 2024 is not permitted to enter in Poetry for 2025, but may enter in Short Fiction, Nonfiction or Dramatic Script). This rule does not apply to the Junior Division.
Literary:
- To enter, email your work in PDF format.
- Entries must be double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced).
- Ensure your name, and any other identifying information, does not appear on the work.
- Senior: only one entry is permitted in any one of the following:
  - Poetry
  - Short Fiction (maximum length: 5,000 words)
  - Nonfiction (maximum length: 5,000 words)
  - Dramatic Script (radio, television, film or stage)
- Junior: only one entry is permitted in either of the following:
  - Poetry
  - Prose (maximum length: 5,000 words)
- A completed application form must be emailed with your entry.
French Literary:
- To enter, email your work in PDF format.
- Entries must be double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced).
- Ensure your name, and any other identifying information, does not appear on the work.
- Only one entry permitted per person.
- This section is open to any literary genre. Maximum length: 5,000 words.
- A completed application form must accompany your entry.
Music:
- To enter, email your work in MP3 format.
- Full scores must accompany your entry for classical works and are recommended for other works. If your work includes lyrics, a copy of the lyrics must be emailed together with your entry.
- Entries released on commercial recordings, published or publicly performed prior to April 18, 2025, are not eligible.
- While the entry can be performed and recorded by a group, group creations are not eligible.
- Only one entry is permitted per person.
- This section is open to all musical genres.
- A completed application form must accompany your entry and include the duration of the work, recording techniques where appropriate, and instrumentation.
Visual Arts:
- It is strongly recommended that before submitting to this section, you review: How to Photograph Your Artwork.
- Email your image(s).
- You may also mail your images(s) on a clearly labelled CD, DVD or USB flash drive. Please note, these will not be returned.
- Number of images: For two-dimensional works, submit one image of the full work. It is also recommended that you submit one or two details of your work. For three-dimensional works, submit three images, including views of the work from different angles and/or a detail.
- If your signature is visible on the work, it must be covered before photographing the work.
- Only one entry is permitted per person.
- This section is open to artwork in any medium, including but not limited to: painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, collage, mixed media, stained glass, fibre arts, digitally produced images, unique bookworks, sculpture in all media (including wood, metal, paper-mȃché, glass, clay, stone), and combinations or assemblages of any of the above.
- A completed application form must accompany your entry and include the medium and dimensions of your work.
Media Arts:
- To enter, email your work in MP4 format. Please note, Windows Media Videos (WMV) files are not accepted. Please convert your WMV file to MP4 before submitting.
- You may also mail your entry on a clearly labelled DVD or USB flash drive. Please note, these will not be returned.
- Entries should be approximately two to ten minutes in length.
- Only one entry is permitted per person.
- This section is open to short videos that may include audio (voice-overs and/or music), text, animations, graphics, and/or photos. If the text is not included in the visual portion of the work, it must accompany the entry.
- A completed application form must accompany your entry.
- If your video uses copyrighted material, you must have permission from the artist. Projects not entirely the original work and/or the property of the creator must be properly documented.