The 20th Wallace Art Awards 2011, with prizes amounting to over $165,000, will be presented by Auckland Mayor Len Brown at The Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre on Monday 5 September.

To mark the 20th Awards, the Wallace Arts Trust have teamed up with Auckland digital art innovator exhibbit.com to feature a virtual exhibition of the 19 Paramount Award Winners from 30 August – 16 October, with the 20th Winner being revealed in real time during the Awards Ceremony. As the longest surviving art awards of their kind in New Zealand the virtual exhibition will be a world first, and a comprehensive survey of contemporary New Zealand art over the last two decades.

The 20th Awards are shaping up to be the biggest yet, with 559 entries received from which 116 finalists have been selected. This year the Awards are being judged by three distinguished New Zealand artists – Philip Trusttum, Sara Hughes and Peter Gibson-Smith.

To reflect the multifarious ways in which artists work today, video is eligible for the Awards this year, as well as contemporary New Zealand painting, sculpture, drawing, and unique photography. The Awards aim to encourage and develop the visual arts in New Zealand, and in particular to reward those producing outstanding work.

The Wallace Art Awards differ from other important New Zealand art prizes in that they aspire to provide challenging opportunities and broadening experiences to the four major winners by way of residencies at top-class international institutions (details below).

The Mayor of Auckland, Len Brown, will present the Awards to the winning artists and open the two exhibitions of the Finalists: the Travelling Show and a Salon des Refusés.

Winners and selected finalists will be chosen for the Travelling Exhibition, on show at the TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre in Auckland from 6 September to 16 October 2011, and The Dowse in Lower Hutt from 29 October to 4 December 2011. A Salon des Refusés will be on show at the TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre in Auckland from 6 September to 14 October 2011.

*Please note: The 20th Wallace Art Awards Ceremony is by invitation only.

The 2011 Prizes:

Wallace Trust Paramount Award

A 6 month-residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York

Fulbright Wallace Trust Award

A 3 month-residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco

The Kaipara Foundation Wallace Trust Award

A 3 month-residency at the Altes Spital in Solothurn, Switzerland

Wallace Development Award

A 2 month-residency at the Vermont Studio Center in the United States

2 Runners Up Awards of $2,000 each

People’s Choice Award $500

Jury Award (non-monetary)