NLMA Visual Art Award for the Arts and Letters Awards Program

Celebrating 100 Years of the NLMA

Open for submissions: Friday, September 1, 2023

In partnership with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, under the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation (TCAR), the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) is offering a one-time artistic award to celebrate its centennial.

The goal of the Art of Medicine: Celebrating 100 Years of the NLMA award is to recognize the role and value of medicine and health care in the lives of patients in Newfoundland and Labrador, while honouring and celebrating the work of physicians today and over the last 100 years. The NLMA was founded in 1924 and is the voice of organized medicine in the province. A non-profit, professional organization, the NLMA represents the political, clinical, and economic interests of the physicians of Newfoundland and Labrador. From cottage hospitals to the establishment of a medical school, physicians have been instrumental in advancing the ever-evolving field of medicine for the people of the province. In recognition of what has been achieved and what lies ahead, the NLMA is proud to celebrate its centennial.

Two winners will be chosen to receive a cash prize of $2,000 each, along with the opportunity for their winning work to be included in the 2024 Arts and Letters Awards Exhibition at The Rooms.

Eligibility and Guidelines

Applicants must be residents of the province for the past 12 consecutive months and 18 years of age or older. Entries can include mediums such as painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, collage, mixed media, stained glass, fibre arts, digitally produced images, sculpture in all media (including wood, metal, paper-mȃché, glass, clay, stone), and combinations or assemblages of any of the above.

Entrants can submit only one entry to The Art of Medicine Award, and cannot submit the same work to the Arts and Letters Awards Program. The work must have been completed within the last 12 months prior to submission. Entrants CAN submit a second, completely unique work to the Arts and Letters Awards Program.

Entries will be assessed by a jury of arts professionals, who will select two winners based on:

artistic excellence, innovation and imagination
thematic relevance to the achievements of physicians and the role of medicine and health care in the lives of patients in Newfoundland and Labrador over the last 100 years

The winners will be announced April 19, 2024 at the Arts and Letters Awards public opening and reception at The Rooms.

Open for submissions: September 1, 2023

Deadline: Wednesday, November 22, 2023

How to submit:

Entries must be submitted in digital format with ART OF MEDICINE entry clearly stated in email subject line
If you are photographing your artwork, you are encouraged to review How to Photograph Your Artwork
Number of images: For two-dimensional works, submit one image of the full work. It is also recommended that you submit one or two details of the work. For three-dimensional works, submit three images, including views of the work from different angles and/or a detail.
Selection of winning entries is a blind adjudication process. The entrant’s name must not appear anywhere on the work. If a signature is visible on the work, it must be covered before photographing the work.
Email your image(s) as a JPEG to [email protected] with ART OF MEDICINE entry in the email subject line. Entries submitted through other means (Dropbox, Google docs) will not be accepted. For large files, you may want to consider submitting your entry by WeTransfer.
You may also mail your images(s) on a clearly labelled thumb drive to the address below. Please note, these will not be returned.

Entries must be accompanied by an Art of Medicine Award application form confirming:

The work was completed within the last 12 months
The work is the result of individual effort (group creations are not eligible)
The work will not be exhibited before April 19 2024
The work has not also been submitted to the Arts and Letters Awards Program
The work is original. Any visual art entry that is a copy of an artwork or part of an artwork created by another person, even with the creator’s permission or when the work is in the public domain, will not be considered original artwork and will be disqualified. This includes recreating the original in a different medium.

Application: The Art of Medicine: Celebrating 100 Years of the NLMA

Inquiries can be sent to: [email protected]

NLMA Visual Art Award
c/o Arts and Letters Award Program
Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation
P.O. Box 8700
St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6