All competitions · Prize / award
RDS Visual Art Awards 2026
Royal Dublin Society (RDS Foundation) · Dublin, Ireland
Ireland's main platform for final-year BA and MA visual art graduates. Curators scout graduate shows; graduates from unlisted colleges, overseas or off-cycle shows may apply directly. Prize fund over €32,500 and exhibition at the RDS, Dublin.
Your eligibility
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Who can enter
- Location
- Open worldwide
- Age
- No age limit
- Career stage
- Student, Emerging
- Graduates
- Graduated within the last 1 years
- Mediums
- Any medium
- Submission
- Online submission
- Also
- Graduating final-year BA or MA visual arts students (Irish colleges scouted; graduates of other/overseas colleges or off-cycle degree shows apply directly). 2025 graduates with shows July 2025-April 2026 also eligible for 2026.
About
The RDS Visual Art Awards provide a curated exhibition, a significant prize fund and professional exposure for emerging artists graduating from the final year of a BA or MA visual arts course. For 2026, six independent curators visited graduate exhibitions across Ireland in April to June and selected twelve artists demonstrating originality, ambition and potential. Final-year BA and MA students whose college is not on the visited list, whose degree show fell outside the usual window, or who studied overseas may apply directly via an online application form.
The total prize fund for 2026 is €32,500 and includes the RDS Taylor Art Award (premier prize), the R.C. Lewis Crosby Award, the RDS Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Centre Culturel Irlandais Residency Award (Paris) and the RDS Members' Fund Artist Studio Award (studio at the RHA with a stipend). The 2026 exhibition runs 6 November 2026 to 23 January 2027 at Gallery@RDS, Simmonscourt Road, Dublin. The awards run annually.