Walters Prize

The Walters Prize is New Zealand's largest contemporary art prize.

Held biennially since 2002, the prize aims to 'make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life'. The prize is named in honour of New Zealand abstract painter Gordon Walters and the founding benefactors and principal donors are Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame Jenny Gibbs. The prize is organised by and held at Auckland Art Gallery.

Four artists are nominated each year by a panel of four New Zealand-based jurors for a work or body of work exhibited in the previous two years. The four artists are invited to install the nominated works (or version of their nominated show) at the Auckland Art Gallery in a public exhibition. The prize is awarded by a visiting international judge.

The winner receives $50,000 and a residency in New York. The prize attracts significant media coverage every year.

The 2016 nominees were considered notable, as three of the four nominees are of Māori descent.

2016

Judge: Doryun Chong

Jurors: Emma Bugden, Peter Robinson, Lara Strongman, Nina Tonga

Finalists:

2014

Judge: Charles Esche

Jurors: Tina Barton, Anna-Marie White, Peter Robinson, Caterina Riva.

Finalists:

2012

Judge: Mami Kataoka

Jurors: David Cross, Aaron Kreisler, Kate Montgomery, Gwynneth Porter.

2010

Judge: Vicente Todolí

Jurors: Jon Bywater, Rhana Devenport, Leonhard Emmerling and Kate Montgomery.

German-based New Zealand artist Michael Stevenson was also nominated for his 2008 exhibition Persepolis 2530 shown in Bristol, but the Auckland Art Gallery stated that 'due to accommodation and budgetary constraints it was not possible to exhibit' the work and therefore while the nomination stood it was not eligible for judging.

2008

Judge: Catherine David

2006

Judge: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

2004

Judge: Robert Storr

2002

Judge: Harald Szeemann

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