MICHÈLE WHITECLIFFE ART WRITING PRIZE

[Chaitanya Sambrani]

MICHÈLE WHITECLIFFE ART WRITING PRIZE – THE ROLE OF ART HISTORY | ENTRIES OPEN 6 APRIL 

Every year Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki runs the Michèle Whitecliffe Art Writing Prize. It seeks to foster debate and encourage participation in an evolving conversation about the visual arts.

In 2026 the theme is The Role of Art History. Last year the New Zealand Government announced that from 2028 art history would no longer be taught as a dedicated subject at secondary schools. Art history’s removal from the New Zealand Curriculum follows the axing of the subject from the University of Otago in 2020 and reduced course offerings at other tertiary institutions.

This year’s Michèle Whitecliffe Art Writing Prize encourages writers to reflect on the potential impact of these changes by considering the question: What is art history, and how does it help us understand the contemporary condition and prepare for the complexities of the future?

Entries open Monday 6 April 2026 and close Friday 31 July 2026. The competition will be judged by Roger Nelson, Assistant Professor of Art History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He will select a winner and two runners-up. The winner receives a $2,500 prize and has their essay published in the October 2026 issue of Art Toi. Essays by the runners-up are published on the Gallery’s website. The competition is open to members of the public, aged 16 years and over, who are residents of New Zealand.

For further information and the entry form: https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/about/major-projects/michele-whitecliffe-art-writing-prize