Apply for Dia al-Azzawi Prize for Public Art

Aims

• Recognise artworks within the urban context that have had a transformative impact on their community.
• Empower and support young and emerging artists, architects, designers and studios.
• Respond to a challenging phase for public art in the Near East and North Africa — where there is a crucial need for a more accomplished and exemplary contemporary evaluation and assessment of work.
• Create educational material in both Arabic and English based on the academic review, analysis and research undertaken on the submitted entries.
• Introduce emerging and established regional artists to a wider community, nurturing a long-lasting network and community of like-minded individuals interested in the betterment of regional urban environments.
• Establish dialogue with local authorities responsible for public art with the mission of enhancing public art in the Middle East and North Africa to that of an international level of excellence.

The Prize

• The winner of the Dia al-Azzawi Prize for Public Art will receive a statue and medal designed by Dia al-Azzawi. If the winner is a team, each member will receive a medal, while the whole team will receive one statue. Travel and flight expenses to attend the annual ceremony will be covered for the winner only (if the winner is a team, then they must select a representative to have their travel costs covered).

Eligibility​ Criteria

• The Dia al-Azzawi Prize for Public Art seeks transformative permanent and temporary projects of all types ranging from murals, sculptures, monuments, urban performances, installations, public spaces, graffiti, architecture and planning. These artworks should not be exhibited in private spaces or as part of private collections, but rather in public spaces ensuring their accessibility to wider communities.
• To be eligible for consideration, projects must be completed between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2022 and should have been exhibited have been exhibited long enough to allow for their impact on the surrounding environment to be verified.
• There are no fixed criteria for the type, nature, or cost of public art projects, but eligible projects must be based in any of the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
• Public Artworks submitted to previous cycles of the Dia al-Azzawi prize are not eligible.

For more information, visit Tamayouz Excellence Award.