Glasstire is currently accepting applications for the 2024 Central Texas Art Writing Prize. To learn more, go here. To support the Central Texas Prize, please go here.
What is the Glasstire Art Writing Prize?
The Glasstire Art Writing Prize is a competitive award designed to highlight emerging arts writers in Texas. The winner of each regional Prize receives $2,500, and their work is published on Glasstire. The Prize is awarded to a senior undergraduate or graduate student at an area university. In addition to rewarding thoughtful writing and helping Glasstire find new contributors, the Prize raises funds to support Glasstire’s coverage of Texas’ various regions.
Past Prizes
The 2023 North Texas Art Writing Prize winner was Blake Bathman, an undergraduate student studying Visual and Performing Arts with an Art History Concentration at the University of Texas at Dallas, who wrote about a sculpture by artist Jes Fan. Guest jurors for the Prize included Lauren Cross, the Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts at The Huntington, and Alison Hearst, Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The 2023 North Texas Prize was generously sponsored by Laura & Walter Elcock; Marguerite Steed Hoffman; Charles Dee Mitchell; Deedie Rose; Karen & Howard Weiner, and others.
The 2022 Central Texas Art Writing Prize winner was Allison Marino, an MA student at UT Austin, who wrote about the unique perspectives of maps that were created by Indigenous artists during the mid-16th century. Guest jurors for the Prize included Austin and Mexico-based independent curator Leslie Moody Castro, and Elyse A. Gonzales, Director of Ruby City in San Antonio. The 2022 Central Texas Prize was generously sponsored by Suzanne Deal Booth; Annette Carlozzi & Dan Bullock; Michael Chesser; Deborah Dupré & Richard Rothberg; Jane Hilfer & Alec Rhodes; The Meyer Levy Fund – Tobin Levy; Pat & Bud Smothers; AnaPaula & Mark Watson, and others.
The 2021 North Texas Art Writing Prize winner was Kevin Zander Johnson, a PhD student at UT Dallas, who wrote about Spike Lee’s landmark film Do the Right Thing. Guest jurors for the Prize included Anna Katherine Brodbeck, the Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, and lauren woods, artist and Assistant Professor of Studio Art at Brandeis University. The 2021 North Texas Prize was generously sponsored by The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation; Laura and Walter Elcock; Marguerite Steed Hoffman; Charles Dee Mitchell, and others.
The 2021 Greater Houston Art Writing Prize winner was Justin Jannise, a Ph.D. student at the University of Houston, who wrote about TRUE NORTH 2020, the Heights Boulevard sculpture exhibition. Guest jurors for the Prize included Molly Glentzer, former Senior Writer and Critic, Arts & Culture for the Houston Chronicle, and Gabriel Martinez, artist and Director of Alabama Song. The 2021 Greater Houston Prize was generously sponsored by The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Foltz Fine Art; Cece & Mack Fowler; Melanie Gray & Mark Wawro; Poppi Georges Massey; and others.
The 2020 San Antonio Art Writing Prize winner was Christina Frasier, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at San Antonio, who wrote about Christopher Montoya’s mural of Cesar Chavez in San Antonio. Guest jurors for the Prize included Dr. Rich Aste, Director of the McNay Art Museum, and Anjali Gupta, former Director of Sala Diaz. The 2020 San Antonio Prize was generously sponsored by Caroline and William Carrington; Wendy Atwell; CAPTRUST; Cynthia Toles; Mary Elizabeth Heard; the Smothers Foundation; the 04Arts Foundation; Edward Collins; H-E-B; and Patricia Ruiz-Healy, Ph.D.
The 2019 North Texas Art Writing Prize winner was Mathieu Debic, a PhD student at UT Dallas, who wrote about David Lynch’s 1984 film Dune. Guest jurors for the Prize included Jeremy Strick, Director of the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, and Terri Thornton, Curator of Education at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The 2019 North Texas Prize was generously sponsored by Laura and Walter Elcock; Lindsey and Patrick Collins; Elisabeth and Panos Karpidas; John and Lisa Runyon; and Eleanor Williams.
The inaugural 2018 North Texas Art Writing Prize winner was Melanie Shi, a student of Philosophy at the University of North Texas in Denton, who wrote about The Color Inside, a skyspace artwork by American artist James Turrell. Guest jurors for the Prize included Augustín Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, and Anne Bothwell, Vice President of Arts for KERA. The 2018 North Texas Prize was generously sponsored by Lindsey and Patrick Collins; Laura and Walter Elcock; Elisabeth and Panos Karpidas; Jana and Hadley Paul; and Cindy and Howard Rachofsky.
On the importance of arts writing, Christina Rees wrote for the inaugural Prize’s announcement, in her op-ed Why We Need Art Writers Now (More Than Ever):
“The Glasstire Art Writing Prize… can encourage and cultivate the voices who are interested in engaging with the vast amount of visual art that this state churns out. Artists not only deserve honest critical writing about their work. They want it. The best artists, especially, want it. And the glossy lifestyle magazines and ‘curated’ Insta-sites that only embrace the forced glamor and fluff around visual art aren’t giving them (or art fans) this, or starting any meaningful conversation around art and what it can actually do in our culture. Given our current political moment, this problem of lack of real dialogue is especially galling.”
Learn more about the Prize and about Glasstire’s work here.