Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts | South Arts

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

Join us for the 2026 Southern Prize and State Fellowships (Visual Arts & Literary Arts) Informational Webinars! Learn about the program guidelines, eligibility, and application process for this year’s fellowships. There are two webinar options:

• October 28, 11am – 12pm EST- Register for October Webinar
• November 20, 11am – 12pm EST – Register for November Webinar

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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.