2020 AJF YOUNG ARTIST AWARD GUIDELINES

The AJF Young Artist Award and grant program recognizes innovative work created by a jewelry artist early in their career. Through the AJF Young Artist Award, AJF supports new and exciting work that will direct the future development of the field.

AJF’s award and grant program is made possible by individuals who believe funding art creation is an important way to show their appreciation for the arts. This year we are excited to announce that the next three cycles of the Young Artist Award competition will be generously supported by prominent collectors Karen and Michael Rotenberg, whose collection focuses on the innovative use of alternative materials by emerging talent and mid-career artists.

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APPLICATION GUIDELINES

PURPOSE OF AWARD

  • To acknowledge innovation, and individuality in the work of a contemporary jewelry artist who:
  • – is early in their career
  • – has created an independent body of work
  • – shows potential for continuing to create new work
  • – and is rigorous in their approach to creating and producing new, exciting, and thoughtful viewpoints
  • To advance the career of a promising artist

AWARD

  • Unrestricted cash award of US$7,500
  • The winner will be recognized as a member of AJF on AJF’s website for one year
  • An interview will be conducted with the winner and each of the four (4) finalists, to be published on AJF’s website during the spring of 2020

JURORS

This year’s jury will consist of:

ENTRY CRITERIA

  • Maker of wearable art jewelry
  • 35 years of age or younger at the time of the application deadline
  • Not currently enrolled in a formal academic degree program (BS/BA, MS/MS/MFA, etc.) or a vocational training program
  • Work submitted must have been unsupervised; work from thesis and/or graduate degree shows is considered supervised work
  • Submitted work must have been completed within the previous two years, i.e., for the 2020 award, work must be completed between 2017 and 2019
  • Applicants who have applied previously must submit new work, i.e., work submitted in a prior AJF Artist Award application may not be resubmitted in the current application

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS

The following information must be submitted via the CaFÉ website:

  • Current resume (one page long maximum)*
  • Artist statement relating to the work submitted, maximum 200 words long*

A qualification statement containing the following:

  • Date of birth (you must be 35 years of age or younger on the application deadline of January 12, 2020)
  • Whether you’re currently enrolled in a formal academic degree program (yes/no); if yes, you are not eligible
  • If you’re represented by a gallery (yes/no); if yes, name of gallery(ies)
  • If you’ve applied for the Artist Award previously (yes/no); if yes, when
  • How you learned about this competition (e.g., instructor; posting at school; curator; gallerist; SNAG News; magazine [specify]; social media; collector; or former award winner)
  • Level of professional training (BA, BFA, MA, MFA or self-taught) and date of completion (month/year graduated 
  • A maximum of 10 digital images showing up to eight pieces of work*
  • – One of the images must show a piece being worn on the body
    – One of the images must show the back side or underneath side of a piece
    – Image Requirements: Follow the image requirements on the CaFÉ website
  • – Please note: All images submitted must also be available as a 300 dpi TIFF file if your application makes it to the finalist round. The high-resolution images will be used by AJF for print media and  promotion
  • Each image file must be labeled with the following*:
    1. Title of piece
    2. Year produced
    3. Dimensions in millimeters
    4. Materials
    5. Photo credit

*Do not include your name on the resume, artist statement, or images, as the jurying process is blind.

Applications close at 11:59 p.m., Mountain Time Zone (Denver, CO, USA), on January 12, 2020. Incomplete and late entries will not be accepted.

WINNER’S RESPONSIBILITIES

  • The winning artist shall ensure delivery of work to Platina Gallery to be displayed during Munich Jewellery Week in March 2020
  • The winner will be announced to the audience at the Internationale Handwerksmesse, and the winning artist is expected to travel to Schmuck, in Munich, Germany, in March 2020 for the award presentation, where s/he will deliver a 10-minute presentation about his/her work. The artist will arrange travel at his/her own expense
  • The winning artist is expected to participate as a juror in the following year’s AJF Young Artist Award

The four finalists will also be invited to participate and show work during Munich Jewellery Week and will also arrange their own travel.

AWARD NOTIFICATION

  • Jury review will take place in January and February 2020
  • Work will be judged on originality, depth of concept, continuity of design, and quality of craftsmanship
  • There will be three rounds of review; those scoring highest in the first round of individual juror review will be moved to the second round, where five (5) artists will be selected as finalists
  • In the third round, the winning artist will be selected from the group of five finalists.
  • The winning artist will be notified immediately by telephone and email. He/she is expected to arrange travel to Munich Jewellery Week—at his/her own expense—to be present when the award is formally announced 
  • The four finalists will be notified by telephone and email
  • All applicants will be informed by email after the finalists have been notified
  • The winner will be announced during Munich Jewellery Week on March 14, 2020
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