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.

On May 3, 2023, the primary winners of the Edmonton Arts Prizes were announced and honoured for their excellence in music, visual art, film and literature at the awards presentation at Westbury Theatre. For the first time ever, the four separately formed arts prizes were jointly celebrated as in a presentation that included Councillor Ashley Salvador, Métis Ward, Debbie Houle, Vice-Chair of the Edmonton Arts Council and Tina Thomas, CEO of the Edmonton Community Foundation. 

Each of the twelve nominated artists received a prize, with $15,000 going to the primary prize recipient in each category, and two secondary prizes of $5,000 awarded to the runners up. In total, $100,000 was awarded to the artists.

The prize program is coordinated by the Edmonton Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Edmonton, Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation and Writers’ Guild of Alberta. 

Congratulations to the 2022 Edmonton Arts Prizes winners!

The City of Edmonton Music Prize
Primary winner: Cristian de la Luna
Runners up: Cikwes and King of Foxes

The Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize
Primary winner: Riaz Mehmood
Runners up: Madeline LeBlanc and Heather Shillinglaw

The Robert Kroetsch - City of Edmonton Book Prize
Primary winner: Matthew James Weigel
Runners up: Norma Dunning and Michael Hingston

The City of Edmonton Film Prize
Primary winner: Katrina Beatty
Runners up: Kyle Edward Ball and Frederick Kroetsch

More information about the award recipients: 

Recipients of the Robert Kroetsch – City of Edmonton Book Prize
(in partnership with Audreys Books & Writers' Guild of Alberta)  

Primary winner: Matthew James Weigel for Whitemud Walking

Matthew James Weigel is a Dene and Métis poet and artist born and raised in Edmonton. Whitemud Walking is his debut full-length genre-bending poetry collection about the land Weigel was born on and the institutions that occupy that land. It’s a genre-bending work of visual and lyric poetry, non-fiction prose, photography, and digital art and design. Currently pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Alberta, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. He is the designer for Moon Jelly House press and his words and art have been published by Arc Poetry Magazine, Book*Hug, The Polyglot, and The Mamawi Project. Matthew is a Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize finalist, National Magazine Award finalist, Nelson Ball Prize finalist, Cécile E. Mactaggart award winner, and winner of both the 2020 Vallum Chapbook Award and 2021 bpNichol Chapbook Award for his chapbook It Was Treaty / It Was Me. His debut full-length collection Whitemud Walking received the Alcuin Society Award for book design and is available now from Coach House Books.  

Runners up:
Norma Dunning for Kinauvit? What’s Your Name?
Michael Hingston for Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda  

Recipients of the City of Edmonton Music Prize
(in partnership with Alberta Music)  

Primary winner: Cristian de la Luna for ¿Qué pasará? - What will happen?

Cristian de la Luna's pop-Latin-folk music is both contagious and inviting. Cristian de la Luna has two albums to his credit, both in Spanish and in French. His sophomore album ¿Qué pasará? - What will happen? goes from love to utopia, passing through unforgettable childhood memories. A versatile artist that combines the simplicity of folk storytelling, Caribbean percussion and the jazzy warmth of brass instruments. Deeply rooted in his Colombian roots, he explores the four corners of his heart through the depth of emotions to the playful naivety of our childhood. His performances are endearing and captivating.   

Cristian de la Luna was Born in the Colombia of Garcia Marquez. At a very young age, Cristian played the trumpet and percussions in his school marching band. It was here that he found his undying passion for music. Exiled at the age of 17, it was his nostalgia for his homeland that inspired him to compose his first songs and to take the stage. This whole story has transformed Cristian into an ambassador for cultural diversity and human rights. 

Runners up:
Cikwes for kâkîsimo ᑳᑮᓯᒧᐤ
King of Foxes for Twilight of the Empire

Recipients of the City of Edmonton Film Prize  
(in partnership with Alberta Media Production Industries Association)

Primary winner:
Katrina Beatty for Before I Change My Mind  

Before I Change My Mind, produced by Katrina Beatty and directed by Trevor Anderson, is a feature length, coming-of-age drama, that explores gender identity and the cost of fitting in. Katrina Beatty is a filmmaker based in Edmonton, Alberta. She works in varying formats including short and feature films, web series, music videos and multi-media projections. 

Katrina has produced three feature films to date. Most recently her production company Loud Whisper Productions produced the Telefilm funded feature Before I Change My Mind. At the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, the script was announced to the GLAAD List; a curated list of the most promising unmade LGBTQ-inclusive scripts in Hollywood. The film had its world premiere at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in August 2022, commencing its tour of the festival circuit. Before I Change My Mind was awarded the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association Award for best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Scripted Feature Film.  

Runners up:
Kyle Edward Ball for Skinamarink  
Frederick Kroetsch for Dangerous Breed: Crime. Cons. Cats.  

Recipients of The 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 for Ishq/Unconditional Love, exhibited at the Art Gallery of Alberta

Riaz Mehmood is a multidisciplinary artist who uses video, photography and computer programming as his primary means of expression. Mehmood’s Ishq/Unconditional Love, was a key work in the solo exhibition Riaz Mehmood: Ghazal Songs for Home, curated by Danielle Siemens for the Art Gallery of Alberta’s RBC New Works Gallery. It is a video installation that uses innovative interactive technology to transport viewers to a different time and place.  
 
Mehmood’s practice often visits themes of multiple and fluid identities, military-industrial complex, borders and geography. His ancestral home is a small village located between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Riaz immigrated to Canada in 2000 as a professional engineer and later decided to pursue a career in the arts. He holds an MFA from the University of Windsor (2012) and completed the Integrated Media program at the Ontario College of Art and Design (2005). He recently completed an artist residency at The Society of Northern Alberta Print-artists (SNAP) and had a solo exhibition – Ghazal, Songs for Home at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton. His works have been shown nationally and internationally. 

Runners up:
Madeline LeBlanc for Tween, exhibited at the Works Art & Design Festival
Heather Shillinglaw for ᑮᓯᑌᐳᐃᐧᐣ ᓵᑳᐦᐃᑲᐣ kîsitêpowin sâkâhikan cooking lake, exhibited at the Alberta Craft Council