The prize is an encouragement award for a new generation of critics and essayists focusing predominantly on contemporary art. The initiators aim to stimulate thorough critical reflection and invest in the future of a qualitative art discourse.
The Prize for Young Dutch Art Criticism seeks to act as a counterweight to the reduction of art criticism in the media, emphasizing the importance of the art critic in contemporary society.
The Prize for Young Dutch Art Criticism shares a common goal with lifetime achievement awards given to acknowledged art writers. However, in the Dutch speaking countries, a prize specifically meant to reward and stimulate young talent is lacking. The prize will allow the young laureates to focus intensively on the development of their writing career for an extended period of time.
The prize is meant for writers under the age of 35 and will be awarded every other year in the categories Review (€ 7,500) and Essay (€ 12,500). The winning entries will be published in the Dutch newspaper NRC (NL) and the Flemish weekly Knack (BE).
Applicants for the first edition can submit their articles until 30 June 2008 via the website www.jongekunstkritiek.net. The specifications for the submissions can also be found here. The texts will be judged on style, coherence, structure, thorough (contextual) information and accessibility.
The jury of the Prize for Young Dutch Art Criticism is chaired by Oscar van den Boogaard (writer) and comprises furthermore Camiel van Winkel (publicist, lecturer at the art academy of Den Bosch), Maria Barnas (writer, artist), Bernard Dewulf (journalist and art critic for Flemish newspaper De Morgen), Edo Dijksterhuis (journalist and art critic for Dutch newspaper het Financieel Dagblad), and Barbara Visser (artist).
The first Prize for Young Dutch Art Criticism will be awarded in October 2008.