First Plinth: Public Art Award 2025 is designed to offer sculptors an opportunity to extend their practice into competing for public art commissions. The winning sculptor is awarded £15,000 to produce a large-scale sculpture for the sculpture terrace at Dora House before moving to a second site. The award theme is Tomorrow.

ABOUT THE PRIZE

This biennial award is open to any artist working in three dimensions, providing a unique and rare opportunity for the winner to build a track record in the competitive arena of public art.

The fabrication of the winning work is supported by the award, with the winner receiving mentoring from a team of experienced professionals - engineers, consultants and artists - to ensure the concept is delivered to the exacting standards required of work to be installed in public spaces.

This award is generously supported by the Mirisch & Lebenheim Charitable Foundation.

THE BRIEF

First Plinth: Public Art Award is designed to closely replicate the public art commissioning procedure.

The award’s aim is to challenge, yet support the sculptor through this process. Like most public art commissions there is a theme and therefore value will be attributed to a well-considered approach to the theme of Tomorrow.

Open to interpretation and approach, we hope this theme encourages applicants to push the boundaries of their practice.

The winner of First Plinth: Public Art Award will create an innovative work for the sculpture terrace at Dora House to be shown in 2026 before moving to a second site.

Previous second sites include  Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The Art House in Wakefield, the 'City of Sculpture'.  

The winning artist will also have the chance to have a supporting show with one other artist (upon invitation of the winning artist) in the galleries of the Royal Society of Sculptors during the same period the award work is on the sculpture terrace. 

The winner will also be expected to take part in a film about the production of their work, plus an In Conversation event while the show is on.  An arts professional will also produce an essay to accompany the show. 

ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCULPTORS – sculpture terrace

The sculpture terrace is part of the Royal Society of Sculptors site at 108 Old Brompton Road. Please see below for full information regarding this space:

Dimensions: approximately 6 x 3.5m

Work will sit directly upon the ground

Weight bearing: approximately 2000 kg

Foundations: existing concrete foundation 2.5 x 2.5 m to a depth of 20cm

Covering: gravel

Lighting: floodlit at night; external power socket for additional electricity/lighting

THE JUDGES

Bill Price

Director, WSP

Bill Price is a Director at global professional services firm WSP and a structural engineer by background. He worked on the Shard at London Bridge from the earliest stages of design development as well as the recently completed Paddington Square.

He is now working on several masterplans involving transport infrastructure, sports facilities and regeneration projects.  Over the years, Bill has also worked with many artists and sculptors assisting with engineering design, fabrication, safety, transportation and site installation.

Bill has been a Trustee of the Royal Society of Sculptors for several years and provides support to the board as well as artists if required. In addition, Bill is Chair of the Rose Theatre in Kingston, supporting original drama and family shows as well as a wide range of youth and community engagement.

Damon Jackson-Waldock

Programme Director, The Art House

Damon is a curator, creative producer and arts programmer based in Yorkshire. He joined the team as the Art House’s Programme Director in 2021.

Damon’s role is to support and nurture the wide range of creative talent regionally and internationally without barriers and steer exciting exhibitions and residences in the gallery spaces and within the community. Previously, Damon worked as Deputy Curator at Yorkshire Sculpture Park for 11 years and was Creative Producer on the Oak Project between 2020-2021.

Hannele Tilles

Curator

Hannele Tilles has curated several exhibitions in her native Finland. She has a long-standing interest in art, particularly sculpture, and has served in previous juries for Public Art Awards at the Royal Society of Sculptors.

She was also a jury member for the Society’s SKULPTUR project, an exhibition of work from all five Nordic countries.

Hannele is also involved with a new art prize BELOW ZERO with Beaconsfield Gallery in London and serves as a juror for a triennial art prize at Galicia Museum in Krakow, Poland.

Laura Ford

President of the Royal Society of Sculptors

Laura Ford studied at Bath Academy of Art between 1978-82 including a period at the Cooper Union School of Art, New York.
Then completed an MA at Chelsea School of art 1982-83.Her work is represented in many public collections including; Tate, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Government Art Collection.

Laura's  sculptures are faithful representations of fantasy with sometimes bitter sweet and menacing qualities mixed with tenderness.

She uses humour and an acute observation of the human condition to engage with wider social and political issues.

Her work is intensely crafted but playful, and she has used a range of media to realise her work including, drawing, painting, performance, set design and has increasingly taken on the challenge of public art alongside museum and gallery shows.

ENTRY FEE

Entry fees are:

Non RSS members - £32.50

RSS members - £22.50

**** Please note that the application fee is non-refundable ****

ENTRY PROCESS

To complete this application, please provide the following:

·         10 images of recent work or work which relates to this award (please make it clear if an image is a digital rendering of an artwork)

·         A CV of no more than two pages long

·         A description of your present practice  

·         A statement on how winning the award will move your practice on

·         Please outline your idea for the theme of Tomorrow  

The closing deadline for applications is 5 pm Tuesday 21 January 2025.

Unfortunately, due to the number of applications we receive, feedback will not be given at this stage.

Notification of all results will be sent by email week commencing 10 February 2025.

RULES & GUIDELINES

By submitting an application, the entrant promises that all of the information comprised in the application is correct.

The entrant also promises to comply with these rules and any other award requirements specified by the Society (whether on its website or otherwise) and the Society reserves its right to exclude any entry which in its opinion does not comply.

All applications must be made using the online form. No hard copy applications will be accepted. Applications must be received by the closing date specified.

The proposals submitted must be entirely the entrant’s original idea and creation and they must not infringe someone else’s copyright or other intellectual property rights.

The submission must be lawful, it must not be offensive, obscene, racist, discriminating or otherwise objectionable and it must not contain any form of advertising.

Proposals must also not be hazardous in any way, and a thorough risk assessment must be supplied by the artist if the initial proposal is shortlisted.

Entrants grant the RSS the unrestricted right (without royalty) to reproduce images of submitted artworks in any publication in connection with the First Plinth award be it online, printed or otherwise disseminated.

The Judge's decision is final. If the RSS is unable to contact any shortlisted artist or winners via the email address supplied by the entrant, the shortlist position/ award lapses, and the RSS reserves the right to select alternative winners.

ELIGIBILITY

Applications are welcomed from artists of any age and nationality working in any style or media who are yet to be recognised as practitioners in public art and have not yet won an open (or closed) competition for a commission to create a work for a public space above the value of £15,000.

For those who have received formal training, the expectation is that you will have a minimum of three years post-graduate experience.

Shortlisted artists will be required to attend an interview on Saturday, 26 April 2025 (also International Sculpture Day), a maquette, bound supporting documents, drawings or rendered photographs of the full-scale work, and up to ten images of existing work will need to be presented at this stage (4 copies for the 4 judges).

Shortlisted artists will be expected to be present on the evening of 26 April 2025 for the announcement of the winner of First Plinth 2025.

Please note that the application fee is non-refundable.