January 2026 Art Awards and Open Calls: Key Opportunities for Artists and Writers

Several significant art awards and open submission opportunities have deadlines in early 2026. The T.S. Eliot Prize has announced its 2025 shortlist featuring ten poets from the UK and Ireland, selected by judges Michael Hofmann, Patience Agbabi, and Niall Campbell. Multiple open calls are currently accepting entries: the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (deadline February 11), Jackson's Art Prize (deadline February 11, offering £6,000 cash plus materials), the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (deadline January 23), the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (deadline February 3, with £35,000 prize fund), the Fiction Factory First Chapter Competition (deadline January 30, £500 prize), and the Art Fund Museum of the Year award (deadline January 19, £120,000 top prize). Additionally, the Footnote x Counterpoints Prize for writers from refugee/migrant backgrounds has a February 13 deadline, offering £15,000 total value. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North was the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year winner.