edmonton's artistic hub and creative catalyst
Edmonton Arts Prizes
The Edmonton Arts Prizes celebrate artists from a range of art forms and practices, recognizing their work, and investing in their continued experimentation and creation.
With the shared aim to enhance Edmonton’s reputation as a hub for extraordinary creation in the arts, the prize program is coordinated by the Edmonton Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and our community partners: Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation, and Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
2026 Edmonton Arts Prizes Recipients
At the May 4, 2026 presentation of the 2025 Edmonton Arts Prizes, the four primary recipients were announced and celebrated for their excellence in film, visual art, music and literature.
2026 Edmonton Arts Prize recipients:
City of Edmonton Music Prize:
Primary winner: ARDN
Runners up: Cikwes, Joe Nolan
City of Edmonton Film Prize:
Primary winner: Adam Scorgie
Runners up: Colin Waugh, Simon Glassman
The Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize:
Primary winner: Elsa Robinson
Runners up: AJA Louden, Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet
Robert Kroetsch – City of Edmonton Book Prize:
Primary winner: Jennifer Bowering Delisle
Runners up: Conor Kerr, Jason Purcell
To learn more about the recipients and their projects, click here.
Introducing a new prize!
First Dance Prize to be awarded in 2027
As announced at the 2026 Edmonton Arts Prize Presentation, a dance prize is under development! Working with the prize’s consulting community partner, the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, the guidelines will be finalized in summer 2026, with the first cycle of presentation in spring 2027. The prize will align with the shared criteria and framework of the four existing Edmonton Arts Prizes.
By fall 2026, further information on the prize and the full submission guidelines will be available.
2026 City of Edmonton Film Prize Finalists
2026 Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize Finalists
2026 Robert Kroetsch – City of Edmonton Book Prize Finalists
2026 City of Edmonton Music Prize Finalists
Shared vision for the Edmonton Arts Prizes
The partners are committed to their shared vision for the Edmonton Arts Prizes as a program that is inclusive of a wide range of artistic practices and welcomes the contributions of artists from multiple communities, backgrounds and traditions. We envision the arts prize categories growing in future years to include a greater diversity of arts disciplines.
Shared eligibility and assessment criteria
- Eligible artists/recipients must be 18+ and a resident of the greater Edmonton region / amiskwaciy-waskâhikan. The greater Edmonton region is defined as the City of Edmonton, the Counties of Sturgeon, Parkland, Leduc and Strathcona, and the communities of Enoch Cree Nation, Alexander First Nation, Paul First Nation, and Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation.
- By the submission deadline, nominated artists must have a current profile (with all required fields completed) with the Edmonton Arts Council: eac.smartsimple.ca. Contact support@edmontonarts.ca or 780−424−2787 if you have questions or need help creating a profile.
- Prize recommendations in each discipline will be based on an evaluation of the artistic merits of a specific work, or collection of work, by a knowledgeable group of peer assessors.
- Assessors will be charged with basing their decisions on the artwork’s merits, including originality, creativity, relevance, and technical excellence. In all cases, the prizes will attempt to recognize the highest standards of artistic achievement, regardless of the artist’s particular mode of expression, or style within the genre.
In the case of equivalent merits, the assessors will be encouraged to consider the work in the context of the (in order):
- Artist’s career;
- Relevant tradition(s), and arts practice in Canada;
- Representation of the demographic diversity of Edmonton’s population;
- Representation of the diversity of artistic expression or styles within the discipline.
Prizes will be awarded in the spring of 2025.
The primary prize recipient in each category will be awarded $15,000, and two secondary prizes of $5,000 will be awarded to the runners up.
2025 Edmonton Arts Prize recipients
CITY OF EDMONTON MUSIC PRIZE
(in partnership with Alberta Music)
Primary winner:
margø for who are you when you’re alone?
Runners up:
Celeigh Cardinal for Boundless Possibilities
King Thief for King Thief (Self Titled)
CITY OF EDMONTON FILM PRIZE
(in partnership with Alberta Media Production Industries Association)
Primary winner:
Darrin Hagen for Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story
Runners up:
Don Depoe/Dept. 9 Studios for Dark Match
Scott Portingale for Emergence
ELDON + ANNE FOOTE EDMONTON VISUAL ARTS PRIZE
(in partnership with the Eldon and Anne Foote Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation & CARFAC Alberta)
Primary winner:
Raneece Buddan for Adorned in our Threads
(Nominated by Art Gallery of St. Albert)
Runners up:
Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐘᐣ for mi^kisak ᒦᑭᐢ
(Nominated by Saz Massey, Downtown Spark)
Heather Shillinglaw for MNIDOONS GIIZIS OONHG — LITTLE SPIRIT MOON (NOVEMBER)
(Nominated by Tyler Sherard, McMullen Gallery)
ROBERT KROETSCH – CITY OF EDMONTON BOOK PRIZE
(in partnership with Audreys Books & Writers’ Guild of Alberta)
Primary winner:
Benjamin Hertwig for Juiceboxers
Runners up:
Crystal Gail Fraser for By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Marilyn Dumont for South Side of a Kinless River
Read about the recipients and their projects on the EAC blog.
2024 Edmonton Arts Prize recipients
ELDON + ANNE FOOTE EDMONTON VISUAL ARTS PRIZE
(in partnership with the Eldon and Anne Foote Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation & CARFAC Alberta)
Primary winner:
Kelsey Stephenson for Currents
(Nominated by Emily Baker, Art Gallery of St. Albert)
Runners up:
Taiessa for variegata
(Nominated by Jacek Malec, Harcourt House Artist Run Centre)
Tiffany Shaw for my children, my mother, her mother and their mother, and their mother, and their mother, and their mother.…. nitawasimisak, nikawiy, okawiya ekwa okawiwawa, okawiyiwa, ekwa okawiyiwa ekwa okawiyiwa.….
(Nominated by The Works Art & Design Festival)
ROBERT KROETSCH – CITY OF EDMONTON BOOK PRIZE
(in partnership with Audreys Books & Writers’ Guild of Alberta)
Primary winner:
Jennifer Bowering Delisle for Micrographia
Runners up:
Anna Marie Sewell for Urbane
Richard Van Camp for The Spirit of Denendeh: As I Enfold You in Petals
CITY OF EDMONTON FILM PRIZE
(in partnership with Alberta Media Production Industries Association)
Primary winner:
Cody Lightning for HEY VIKTOR!
Runners up:
Adam Scorgie for Thunder: The Life and Death of Arturo Gatti
Omar Mouallem for The Lebanese Burger Mafia
CITY OF EDMONTON MUSIC PRIZE
(in partnership with Alberta Music)
Primary winner:
HAIDEE for This Shouldn’t Be Typical
Runners up:
Arlo Maverick for Blue Collar
Home Front for Games of Power
Read more about the 2024 Edmonton Arts Prize recipients on the EAC blog.
2023 recipients
ROBERT KROETSCH – CITY OF EDMONTON BOOK PRIZE
(in partnership with Audreys Books & Writers’ Guild of Alberta)
Primary winner:
Whitemud Walking by Matthew James Weigel
Shortlist:
Kinauvit? What’s Your Name? by Norma Dunning
Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda by Michael Hingston
CITY OF EDMONTON MUSIC PRIZE
(in partnership with Alberta Music)
Primary winner:
¿Qué pasará? — What will happen? by Cristian de la Luna
Shortlist:
kâkîsimo ᑳᑮᓯᒧᐤ by Cikwes
Twilight of the Empire by King of Foxes
CITY OF EDMONTON FILM PRIZE
(in partnership with Alberta Media Production Industries Association)
Primary winner:
Katrina Beatty for Before I Change My Mind
Shortlist:
Kyle Edward Ball for Skinamarink
Frederick Kroetsch for Dangerous Breed: Crime. Cons. Cats.
ELDON + ANNE FOOTE EDMONTON VISUAL ARTS PRIZE
(in partnership with the Eldon and Anne Foote Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation & CARFAC Alberta)
Primary winner:
Riaz Mehmood (nominated by Danielle Siemens, Art Gallery of Alberta)
Shortlist:
Madeline LeBlanc (nominated by The Works International Visual Arts Society)
Heather Shillinglaw (nominated by Jill Allan, Alberta Craft Council)
Read more about the 2023 Edmonton Arts Prize recipients on the EAC blog.