Currently 20 active prizes and awards, across AI, arts, film, journalism, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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The American Academy in Berlin is an independent, nonprofit institute for advanced study in the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, journalism and public policy, whose primary mission is to strengthen the cultural and intellectual ties between the United States and Germany. Each year, after a rigorous selection process, the Academy awards roughly two dozen semester-long Berlin Prize fellowships to individuals who demonstrate excellence in their fields. DISCIPLINES: applications are welcome across the humanities, social sciences, law, journalism and various areas of public policy. The Academy generally encourages projects addressing pressing issues of the day, specifically naming democracy, security, technology and society (especially AI), energy including climate, and global order. Dedicated fellowships also support projects in Jewish studies, German studies, and public health and biotechnology. Project proposals need not focus on Germany, but candidates should explain how a residency in Berlin would enhance their work. NOT ACCEPTED: proposals in mathematics or the natural sciences. NOTE FOR ARTISTS: visual artists and composers are invited through separate, nomination-based competitions, so there is no open application route for them here. ELIGIBILITY: fellowships are restricted to citizens and permanent residents of the United States. Both emerging and established figures are eligible. PhD holders qualify as emerging scholars with a strong record of peer-reviewed work beyond the dissertation; candidates in non-academic fields such as journalism, filmmaking and policy need a significant record of publication or production; fiction and nonfiction writers must have published at least one book with a reputable press. WHAT FELLOWS DO: fellows present their work to audiences in and around Berlin through lectures, readings, public discussions, performances and film screenings, and should be willing to engage with relevant German institutions, organizations and the media; these activities are integral to the Academy's mission of fostering transatlantic dialogue. APPLICATION MATERIALS: a project proposal of 1,500 to 1,750 words plus a one-page bibliography; a curriculum vitae of up to 10 pages; two writing samples totalling no more than 60 pages; and three letters of recommendation, which are due 2 October 2026. DEADLINE: Friday 25 September 2026 at 12:00 noon Eastern Time (18:00 Central European Time). TIMELINE: all candidates are notified of the competition outcome by email in late March 2027; the 2027-28 Berlin Prize recipients are announced in May 2027.
The Fluxus-CPGA Prize at Frieze London, a collaboration between Fluxus Art Projects, the Comite Professionnel des Galeries d'Art and Frieze London, supports talent from the French art scene and promotes its visibility internationally. It also celebrates the relationship between artists and their galleries: the GBP 15,000 prize is shared between the two. WHO APPLIES: galleries of any nationality exhibiting at Frieze London 2026, presenting the work of one French or French-based artist on their stand; artists cannot apply directly. HOW TO APPLY: via the Google Form linked from the apply page, with gallery contact information, the artist's name and number of works presented, an artist biography (200 words), a gallery description (200 words) and 1 to 2 images. Free of charge. Previous laureates include Daiga Grantina (Emalin, 2025), Stephanie Saade (Marfa' Projects, 2024) and Josefa Ntjam (Nicoletti, 2023); jurors have included Hans Ulrich Obrist, Zoe Whitley, Catherine Wood and Valeria Napoleone. Deadline 28 September 2026.
Unlimited, the UK's flagship commissioning body for disability arts, opens eleven Partner Awards for 2026/27 delivered with named partner organisations including the Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Without Walls, Cryptic, Scottish Sculpture Workshop and Sherman Theatre. The awards fund ambitious new work by disabled artists across theatre, performance, digital media, music and visual arts. WHAT YOU GET: awards of GBP 15,000 to GBP 40,000 (the Wales award is GBP 20,000), totalling GBP 280,000 across England, Scotland and Wales, supporting R&D through to presentation and touring with a named partner. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must be a disabled artist or lead a disabled-led company, be based in England, Scotland or Wales, be 18 or older, and not be in full-time education. ACCESS: application materials are provided in audio, BSL, Easy Read, large print, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh, and access support for applying is available via commissions@weareunlimited.org.uk. DEADLINE: 28 September 2026 at midday.
The Fluxus Prize at Art Basel Paris, from Fluxus Art Projects, supports talent from the British art scene and promotes its visibility internationally, honouring the relationship between artists and their galleries: the EUR 15,000 prize is shared between the two. This edition is supported by Belinda de Gaudemar and Laurent Issaurat. WHO APPLIES: galleries of any nationality exhibiting at Art Basel Paris 2026 in the Galleries or Premise sectors, presenting the work of one British or UK-based artist; artists cannot apply directly. HOW TO APPLY: by email to visual.arts[at]institut-francais.org.uk with gallery contact information, the artist's name and number of works presented, an artist biography (200 words), a gallery description (200 words) and 1 to 2 images. Free of charge. Previous laureates include Olu Ogunnaike (Hollybush Gardens, 2025) and Jesse Darling (Sultana, 2024); jurors have included Hans Ulrich Obrist, Caroline Bourgeois and Daria de Beauvais. Deadline 29 September 2026.
The 15th annual First Look Project from Script Pipeline searches for higher-concept material across six categories: feature screenplays in Action and Sci-Fi, Comedy, Drama, and Horror and Thriller, plus hour and half-hour original TV pilots. Unlike Script Pipeline's Screenwriting and TV Writing contests, entries are judged on both writing ability and market potential, in addition to originality of concept; a script that still needs refining can win if the story could stand out in the current landscape, as the aim is a first look at the next buzzworthy specs before they hit the market. GUIDELINES: screenplays must be feature length; genres without a listed category go to the closest one (Fantasy, Western or Adventure under Action and Sci-Fi; Crime and Mystery under Thriller). TV pilots run roughly 30 to 60 pages, all genres accepted including animation and genre hybrids. The script must not be under an option or shopping agreement at the time of entry, and the same script cannot compete in multiple categories. CIRCULATION: Script Pipeline's industry relationships (Bellevue Productions, LBI Entertainment, Hungry Man, Alibi Management and others) have led to writers signed, specs sold and films produced. Regular deadline 30 September 2026; late deadline 15 October; extended deadline 30 October. Winners announced 15 December 2026.
Call for short films (1-10 minutes) involving human/AI hybrid creation, from the We Are Human Foundation in Paris. Three cash awards: Grand Prix EUR 5,000, Best Screenplay EUR 3,000, and an Ethics Award EUR 2,000. ELIGIBILITY: international, applicants 18+; films must have been completed after 1 June 2025 and involve human/AI hybrid creation; a mandatory Ethics Notebook accompanies each submission. No submission fee. Festival screening at Forum des images, Paris, on 24 November 2026. Apply via FilmFreeway; deadline 30 September 2026.
NEXT ART AI is an open AI art competition run by the HOBAN Cultural Foundation, welcoming participants of all backgrounds regardless of career, nationality or age, and framed as a way to reflect on the future of AI art through new modes of expression and artistic experimentation. TWO CATEGORIES: AI IMAGE ART, for works in a single-image format at 150dpi or higher, submitted as JPG, JPEG, PNG or BMP up to 10MB; and AI VIDEO ART, open to a wide range of video formats including animation, motion graphics and live-action footage enhanced or transformed using AI, at 1080p or higher, under one minute, 30 or 60fps recommended, stereo 48kHz audio recommended, as mp4 (h.264) or mov. Video entries are submitted as a URL via YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox or OneDrive, or an alternative platform if those are restricted in your region; links that are inaccessible due to privacy settings may be excluded from judging. WHO CAN ENTER: individuals or teams of up to three including the representative, though you may not submit both as an individual and as part of a team. Team representatives create the account in their own name and all members submit a consent form for personal data. Applicants under 19 need a guardian's signed consent. One work may be submitted per category. RULES ON AI AND ASSETS: work must be original and created by the applicant or team, and must be image or video art created using generative AI platforms. Works that have previously won an award in another competition are not eligible. Free or paid external assets, game engines, AI frameworks, open-source tools and editing software may be used freely, but applicants must hold licences permitting commercial use for every element, and work infringing third-party rights is excluded. Even where external assets and editing software are used, the creative process must involve AI, whether AI-assisted direction, transformation, generation or other AI-based processes, and the choice of AI tools, the scope and method of their use, and the prompts themselves are all weighed in evaluating the creative use of AI. TIMELINE: applications open 1 September 2026 and close 30 September 2026 at 11:59pm KST, preliminary round early October, final round late October, announcement and ceremony early November, exhibition late November 2026. Organised and hosted by the HOBAN Cultural Foundation, sponsored by HOBAN Group, with Seoul Shinmun and EBN as media partners. Details and schedule are subject to change at the organiser's discretion.
Lost in Transcription: Advancing Speech Recognition for Underserved Linguistic Contexts is a machine learning competition on the Mozilla Data Collective platform (run with DrivenData, backed by Mozilla Foundation). Participants build automatic speech recognition (ASR) models for real-world bilingual, code-switched conversations across three independent tracks: Nahuatl x Spanish, Indonesian x Javanese, and North American Spanish x English (Spanglish); developers can also work with other languages if the datasets are available on or uploaded to the MDC platform, which offers ethically sourced multilingual, multicultural and multimodal datasets. PRIZES: USD 20,000 total; per track USD 4,000 for first place and USD 2,000 for second, judged by word error rate on a private leaderboard, plus a bonus award for the lowest average word error rate across all three tracks (same team members required). WHO IS ELIGIBLE: individuals and teams worldwide (students, tech clubs, universities, startup builders, labs, independent tinkerers); 18+ and legal resident of an eligible jurisdiction; one account per person; participants are responsible for complying with school or employer policies. DEADLINE: the platform lists final submissions closing 2 October 2026, midnight UTC (some announcements said 25 September, so check the platform for your track). Free to enter.
The H&M Foundation backs ten changemakers each year with a EUR 200,000 grant to accelerate early-stage innovation toward a net-zero textile industry; since 2015 the award has distributed a combined EUR 10 million to 56 innovations. The foundation's FAQ states applicants can be an individual, a small team or an organisation, with no registered-company requirement, and ideas can still be at research, lab or concept stage. Neither the Foundation, its partners nor H&M Group take any equity or IP rights, so this is a genuine grant, not an investment vehicle. CATEGORIES: sustainable materials, responsible production, mindful consumption, and wildcards. WHAT YOU GET: EUR 200,000 plus a yearlong Changemaker Programme with industry knowledge, tools and connections. HOW TO APPLY: the 2027 cycle is nomination-based; The Mills Fabrica is an official nominator accepting open proposals from 1 September to 2 October 2026 via its website. DEADLINE: 2 October 2026 for the Mills Fabrica proposal window.
An open call for at least 10 short performances of maximum 15 minutes for the 12th edition of Teatri Riflessi in Zafferana Etnea, Sicily. THE FORMAT: the competition champions the short performance in its own right, not as a reduction of a longer work nor as a sketch for a full-evening adaptation; its strength is the artistic immediacy and urgency it carries. The framing connects ancient Greek theatre, conceived as an outdoor competition for a large audience, to the more provocative tendencies of happenings and performance art that lean on the beholder's desire to participate. STRUCTURE: semi-finalists perform on the evenings of Thursday 15 and Friday 16 July 2027; the Programmers' Panel and the Scholars' & Critics' Panel determine the finalists, who perform again in the final on Sunday 18 July. The panels bring together around 30 Italian and international artistic directors, curators, festival and theatre programmers, journalists, critics and performing arts scholars, many from the Teatri Riflessi Network and Anticorpi XL Network; the full list is published in June 2027. Past partner organisations include Antistatic Festival (Sofia), ATER Fondazione, BIG Festival, Cantieri Danza, Circuito CLAPS, COORPI, Dance ICONS (Washington DC), Danza Urbana, Derida Dance Centre, EN-KNAP and Spanski Borci (Ljubljana), Fabbrica Europa, Festival Ammutinamenti, Cluny Danse (France), Danza Canarias dentro y fuera (Tenerife), FIND Festival, Fondazione Armunia and Festival Inequilibrio, Fondazione Claudia Lombardi per il teatro (Lugano), Fondazione Sipario Toscana, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo, Galway Dance (Ireland), Interplay Festival (Turin), L'Arboreto Teatro Dimora, La Piccionaia, Movimento Danza, New Dance For Asia International Festival (Daegu), Puglia Culture, Toplocentrala (Sofia) and Umbria Danza Festival. MONEY: each selected performance receives a gross fee of EUR 500 to EUR 1,100 depending on cast size, plus a possible travel contribution of up to EUR 250. Awards are Best Performance EUR 1,200 (from the combined weighted scores of both panels, the Jury of the Final, the Youth Jury and the Citizens' Jury), Best Dramaturgy EUR 500 and the Scholars' and Critics' Award EUR 500 (both from the Scholars' & Critics' Panel), Best Direction EUR 500 and Best Performer EUR 500 (both from the Programmers' Panel), the 'Valentina Nicosia' Fund of EUR 500 (joint decision of both panels), the 'Sandra Bressan' research fund of EUR 1,800 (awarded by the Citizens' Jury to reinvite a company to Sicily to work with the community), and the Youth Jury Award of EUR 300 to a semi-finalist, alongside the Audience Special Mention, the Companies' Choice Award and the Technical Crew Award. Fees, reimbursements and prizes are paid after the festival, provided all regulations and deadlines are met. FEES TO APPLY: none. Only selected companies pay a EUR 50 deposit on selection, fully refunded after the festival. RULES: performances should aim for 15 minutes, with total stage occupancy including set-up and dismantling capped at 20 minutes. Multiple entries are allowed but need a separate form each. No major changes are permitted after selection; minor adjustments, especially cast substitutions, must be communicated in advance and authorised by IterCulture APS. Works in languages other than Italian are welcome and are presented with Italian and English surtitles prepared by IterCulture APS. APPLICATION: a digital form linked in Article 5 of the open call regulations, with Annex A for dramaturgy (the complete script where one exists, or for dance, physical theatre and non-text work a short document on the dramaturgical research and choreographic structure) and a full video recording of the complete work; excerpts and teasers are not accepted, and for rehearsed readings, directorial notes on costumes, lighting and set design are mandatory. COMMITMENT: rehearsal attendance is compulsory, with the day assigned by the Competition Manager after selection; companies must arrive in Zafferana Etnea by their rehearsal day (rehearsals run 13 and 14 July 2027) and stay until the festival closes at 23:30 on Sunday 18 July. Rehearsals and public events run mainly in afternoons and evenings; the only compulsory morning commitment is the panel feedback session on Sunday 18 July. Online information sessions are held on Google Meet on Tuesday 22 September 2026, with the English session at 19:30 CEST. Deadline 15 October 2026 at 5pm CET.
The 10th edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize is open for registration until 15 October 2026. Established in 2016, the prize rewards works combining technical excellence, artistic quality and innovation in craft. WHAT YOU GET: the winner receives EUR 50,000, and shortlisted works are shown in an exhibition in Europe in spring 2027. DISCIPLINES: textiles are explicitly listed among the eligible craft disciplines, alongside ceramics, woodwork, metalwork and other applied arts, which makes the prize a home for e-textile and material-innovation work with a craft dimension. ELIGIBILITY: entries must be original one-of-a-kind works made entirely or partly by hand, created within the last five years, and not previously awarded a prize; applicants must be professionals at least 18 years old, and individuals and collectives of all nationalities may apply. DEADLINE: registration closes 15 October 2026 at 23:59 CET.
To mark the 30th anniversary of its World of Art school for curatorial practices and writing, SCCA-Ljubljana establishes the Award for Curatorial Practices, recognizing outstanding achievements in curating contemporary visual art. The award is organized in partnership with Moderna galerija (MG+MSUM), Cukrarna/MGML and the Center for Contemporary Arts Celje, with support from the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. WHAT YOU GET: two tiers are awarded in 2026, a Large Award of EUR 5,000 gross for an established practice (minimum 10 completed curatorial projects within the last 15 years) and a Small Award of EUR 2,500 gross for an emerging practice (minimum 3 completed projects within the last 5 years). ELIGIBILITY: curators working within Slovenia's cultural sector, or Slovenian curators whose projects have been realized in international institutions. APPLICATION: submit a single PDF (max 5MB) containing a portfolio, a curatorial statement, a biography and a statement on the relevance of the practice (each up to one A4 page), plus consent, via the Google Form linked from the call; materials in English, filename formatted NAME_SURNAME_Award for Curatorial Practices_2026. DEADLINE: 23 October 2026, with the ceremony in December 2026.
The AI Philosophy Competition, organised by philosophers Zachary Goodsell and Elliott Thornley and funded by Forethought Research, aims to gauge the philosophical capabilities of AI in a way transparent to the philosophical community. Entrants submit up to three original essays on any philosophical topic; essays must be primarily AI-generated, with some human guidance allowed, and each entry must include a methodology report explaining how the essay was produced. Essays are capped at 6,000 words each and may not be previously published or under review elsewhere; entrants consent to online publication and may choose anonymity. Judging is blind to methodology and authorship and evaluates the quality and originality of the philosophical content (style is not graded); the judging committee includes David Chalmers, John Hawthorne, Herman Cappelen, Cian Dorr and other academic philosophers. PRIZES: USD 3,000 / 2,000 / 1,000 for the top three essays, plus a USD 5,000 creative methodology pool. Finalists announced early December 2026, results end of January 2027. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
A bias bounty from Zindi, Humane Intelligence, Radiant Earth, and the Heising-Simons Foundation: measure coverage gaps in Overture Maps across US Census tracts by comparing it against Census TIGER/Line Roads, Microsoft US Building Footprints, USGS National Map critical facilities, and Census County Business Patterns. Submissions are automatically evaluated with a Bias Score assessing equity metrics across demographic and climate-vulnerability strata, surfacing whose neighbourhoods open map data underserves. PRIZES: 1st USD 4,500, 2nd USD 2,500, 3rd USD 1,500, Best Bias Discovery USD 1,000, Best Documentation USD 500 (USD 10,000 total), plus 10,000 Zindi points. ELIGIBILITY: open to all, teams of up to 4. HOW TO ENTER: create a Zindi account, download the sample submission files, compute coverage-gap scores per tract GEOID, and upload a CSV; 10 submissions per day, 300 total. Free to enter. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
The ARC Prize Foundation runs its 2026 competition for progress toward artificial general intelligence, with a USD 2,000,000 total prize pool across three tracks: the main Kaggle competition on the ARC-AGI-2 static reasoning benchmark, a track on ARC-AGI-3 interactive agent reasoning (second milestone 30 September 2026), and a paper prize for research that advances understanding of ARC-AGI performance. Milestone prizes run USD 25,000 / 10,000 / 2,500. Open to individuals and teams worldwide, entirely online via Kaggle. Winning entries must be open-sourced under permissive licenses to collect prizes. Main submission deadline 2 November 2026, paper track 8 November 2026; results announced 4 December 2026.
The J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards, given jointly by Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, are open for 2027 submissions. Two annual awards of USD 25,000 each help writers complete a book-length work of narrative nonfiction on a topic of American political or social concern; books on science, technology and media accountability have won in past years. Applicants need a fully executed contract with a US-based publisher for the book in progress. There is no entry fee for the Work-in-Progress awards; note that the Lukas Book Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize run on the same portal with the same deadline but carry a USD 75 entry fee. TO APPLY: submit via the Columbia Journalism Awards Submittable portal. DEADLINE: 3 December 2026, 11:59 PM ET.
The European Media Art Festival (EMAF) in Osnabrueck invites submissions for its 2027 edition in three sections: Film (experimental films of all lengths and any theme), Installation (installative, interactive, spatial or sculptural media art works) and Expanded (performances, live events or workshops). WHAT YOU GET: all films selected for the International Selection are equal winners of the EMAF Award with EUR 400 prize money each; films in the Features section (over 60 minutes) receive a EUR 250 screening fee; curated programmes pay EUR 80-250 depending on length; installations and expanded projects receive a EUR 500 fee with production costs paid by the festival. Selected artists are invited to the festival with free accreditation, three hotel nights (potentially longer if setting up is required) and a contribution to travel costs. RULES: maximum 2 works per artist; only works completed in 2026 or 2027 are eligible; no premiere status required; works entered at previous editions will not be reconsidered. Films up to 60 minutes are viewed for the International Selection, films over 60 minutes for Features. Installation entries should relate to the 2027 festival theme of the archive (as an instrument of knowledge production, a site of critical intervention and a space for alternative visions of the future); Installation and Expanded entries must include a comprehensive description, tech rider, cost calculation and visual materials. Non-English-language works must have English subtitles for the selection screening. Submit digitally via the EMAF registration portal (no DVDs or physical media). Selection decisions are emailed from mid-March 2027. DEADLINE: the call closes as soon as 2,200 entries have been received, or at the latest on 15 December 2026, so submit early. No entry fee.
WOW is the world's largest wearable-art competition, culminating in a staged show in Wellington, New Zealand, with the 2027 awards night on 17 September 2027. The Kinetic and Avant-garde sections regularly attract technology-driven wearables, making this a natural target for e-textile, robotic and sensor-driven garment work. WHAT YOU GET: a prize pool exceeding NZD 200,000 across 25 awards; in the published 2026 schedule the Supreme WOW Award paid NZD 30,000, the runner-up NZD 15,000 and each section winner NZD 8,000 (the 2027 schedule was not yet posted at the time of listing). KEY DATES: the 2027 section themes are published and entries open in November 2026; international designers must lodge an intention to enter by 11 February 2027 and submit their entry by 25 February 2027 (New Zealand designers: 31 March and 14 April 2027); finished garments ship to New Zealand with a final delivery cut-off of 2 June 2027. ELIGIBILITY: designers worldwide, entering under their own names rather than as a business; teams of up to three allowed; entrants must be 18 or over. There is no entry fee.
The Bradford Textile Society, which has run its design competition since 1893, awards a collective GBP 17,000 across textile categories in the 2027 cycle. CATEGORIES: weave, knit, print, embroidery, combined textile processes, mixed media and new technologies, the last being a natural home for e-textile and smart-textile work; a new Coldharbour Mill Award for Tartan is added for 2027. ELIGIBILITY: all UK-based students and independent designers are welcome to enter. KEY DATES: entries open 22 March 2027 and close at midnight on 7 May 2027; the entry portal is currently closed between cycles, but the deadline and categories are published now. No entry fee is stated on the competition page.
Applications for the 2027 Bertha Artivism Awards are open (confirmed 23 September 2026). The awards fund up to USD 20,000 for a one-year activist-art project made in collaboration with a social justice organization, campaign or movement, and the cohort also receives peer exchange and support from the Bertha Foundation network. Open worldwide to artists and collectives across disciplines. IMPORTANT: no closing date is published on the award page, and the cohort starts January 2027, so apply early rather than waiting; the call has historically opened around August and closed in the autumn. TO APPLY: submit the application form linked from the Artivism Awards page at berthafoundation.org.