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Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts - 2012

Nomination Deadline

1 June 2011

If this date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.

Please refer to the Nomination Guidelines for detailed information.

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Description of Awards

The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts are Canada’s foremost distinctions for excellence in visual and media arts. These awards were created in 1999 through a partnership of the Canada Council for the Arts and the then Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc, who committed Government House to hosting the gala ceremony to honour the laureates at Rideau Hall, in perpetuity. The Canada Council funds and administers the awards.

As a result of a $1.5 million donation to the Canada Council from The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, the Saidye Bronfman Award became a Governor General’s Award, reserved for fine craft artists as of March 2007. The name “Saidye Bronfman Award” is retained under the overall banner of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. 

Up to eight awards will be given annually:

  • up to six awards of $25,000 each will be available for distinguished artistic achievement in the visual (including architecture and photography) and/or media arts
  • one award of $25,000 will be presented as the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in the fine crafts, and
  • one award of $25,000 will be given to recognize the outstanding contribution to the visual (including architecture and photography) and media arts or to fine craft of an individual or group in a volunteer or professional capacity, through philanthropy, board governance, community outreach activities, or as a director of an organization, curator, programmer, educator, critic or dealer/distributor.

No awards will be made posthumously; they must be given to persons who are living as of the deadline date.

The Canada Council for the Arts wishes to acknowledge its appreciation to His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, for his patronage of the awards.

This program is open to Aboriginal artists and artists of diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.

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Eligibility

Nominees (all awards)

Nominees must be Canadian citizens or have permanent resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Candidates do not need to be living in Canada when their name is put forward.

Members of the Board of the Canada Council for the Arts are not eligible to be considered for this prize during their term as members and for six months following the end of their term.

Individuals may only be nominated in one of the three categories (Artistic Achievement, Saidye Bronfman Award or Outstanding Contribution).

A recipient can only receive one award from each of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts’ categories (Artistic Achievement, Saidye Bronfman Award and Outstanding Contribution) in a life-time.

Nominators (for all categories)

A nominator must be a recognized Canadian specialist in the visual or media arts or fine crafts, such as:

  • the director (current or former) or a member of the board of directors of a Canadian museum, public gallery, cinematheque or artist-run centre that has demonstrated a strong commitment to producing, collecting, distributing and/or exhibiting contemporary Canadian art and that has received Canada Council for the Arts funding at least once in the past 10 years
  • an association of professional visual and (or) media artists or fine craftspersons or a national service organization in the visual arts, media arts or fine crafts
  • the dean or principal responsible for studies in the visual and/or media arts or fine crafts at a Canadian university or art college, or a professor at such an institution
  • a Canadian private dealer in visual and/or media arts or fine crafts
  • an established visual and/or media arts or fine crafts critic or curator, and
  • any former or current Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient in the visual arts, media arts or fine crafts.
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Nomination Form

GGVMA Nomination Form 2012 (PDF format)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.

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Further Information

Michel Gaboury,
Program Officer
Visual Arts Section
Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8

Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or 613-566-4414, ext. 5265

TTY:  1-866-585-5559

Fax: 613-566-4432

April 2011