What do the Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, DeVos Foundation and Abraaj Group Art Prize have in common? They all offer an art award of $100,000 to deserving artists. This year, courtesy of philanthropist and art patron Suzanne Deal Booth, Austin’s contemporary community art museum will also join its aforementioned peers in offering a $100,000 biennial award.

Suzanne Deal Booth

Dubbed the “Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize”, an independent jury of experienced museum curators, art historians and Booth herself will select an artist “deserving of increased recognition and for whom the award, exhibition and publication will be transformative,” according to the director of the Contemporary Austin, Louis Grachos. The award is more prestigious than mere money, however. The winning artist will also have the opportunity to hold their exhibition at the Contemporary Austin’s Jones Center or Laguna Gloria (they have two sites), while a scholarly publication will be produced alongside the exhibition. It is a greatly esteemed award meant only for the most deserving talents, where the prize money itself is among the highest in the art world.

The winner of the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize will be announced in Fall 2016, while the exhibition of the winning artist will open in early 2018.

For more information, visit the Contemporary Austin’s website here.