First Plinth: Public Art Award 2027

About this call

First Plinth: Public Art Award is a biennial award from the Royal Society of Sculptors, open to any artist working in three dimensions, and designed to closely replicate the public art commissioning procedure. The 2027 theme is RENEWAL. The winning sculptor is awarded £15,000 to produce a large-scale sculpture for the sculpture terrace at Dora House, 108 Old Brompton Road, London, to be shown in 2028 before moving to a second site; previous second sites include Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The Art House in Wakefield. Fabrication is supported by the award, and the winner receives mentoring from a team of engineers, consultants and artists. The winner may also hold a supporting show with one other artist in the Society's galleries, takes part in a film about the production of the work and an In Conversation event, and an arts professional writes an essay to accompany the show. The terrace is approximately 6 x 3.5m, with a weight bearing of approximately 2000 kg.

Who can apply

• International applicants
• Medium: Sculpture / Installation
• Entry fee: £34
• Open to artists of any age and nationality working in any style or media who are yet to be recognised as practitioners in public art and have not yet won an open or closed competition for a public-space commission above £15,000. Artists with formal training are expected to have at least three years of post-graduate experience. Submissions are expected to open on 30 October 2026, through CuratorSpace (online form only). Early bird fee before 12 pm UK time on Tuesday 10 November 2026: £17 for non-members, £12 for Society members; after that £34 for non-members, £24 for members; the fee is non-refundable. Prepare a CV of no more than two pages, a brief description of your present practice, up to 10 images of recent work, a brief statement on how winning would move your practice on, an outline of your idea for the theme RENEWAL and up to 3 supporting images. Results are emailed in the week commencing 8 February 2027; shortlisted artists must attend an interview on Saturday 24 April 2027 to present a maquette, bound supporting documents, drawings or rendered photographs of the full-scale work and up to ten images of existing work (4 copies for the 4 judges), supply a thorough risk assessment of the proposal, and be present that evening for the winner announcement. Proposals must be entirely the entrant's original idea and must not be hazardous.