The Yukon Prize for Visual Arts recognizes excellence by Yukon visual artists and is intended to be a catalyst for the promotion of Yukon visual art across Canada. The prize is open to Yukon artists working in any medium, including painting, carving, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, electronic media, photography, textiles, glass, regalia, jewelry and drawing.
The 2025 Yukon Prize Recipient will be announced at a Gala Celebration at the Yukon Arts Centre on Saturday October 4, 2025, as part of the Yukon Prize Celebration Weekend of events, October 3-5, 2025. Save the date!
The Yukon Prize has been established in partnership with the Yukon Arts Foundation and the Yukon Arts Centre by co-founders Julie Jai and David Trick, with the support of a dedicated team of volunteers.
The prize has three goals:
- To provide a financial prize of $20,000 to one Yukon artist that will help them focus full-time on creating art
- To promote Yukon art and Yukon artists within the Yukon, nationally and internationally
- To foster a culture of curatorial critique and discourse in the Yukon and encourage artists to be the best that they can possibly be
The purpose of the Yukon Prize is that the award and exhibits of the finalists’ works will create opportunities for Yukon artists and inspire connections between Yukon artists and the visual arts community in the rest of Canada, providing increased visibility, artistic development and potential for sales. The Yukon Prize is intended to be a biennial event and the Yukon Prize website houses an online gallery of the works of past finalists.
Finalists each receive $3,000.
The 2023 recipient of the $20,000 Yukon Prize is Kaylyn Baker who, along with finalists Jeffrey Langille, Rebekah Miller, Cole Pauls, Omar Reyna and Alainnah Whachell, exhibited their work at the Yukon Arts Centre from September-November, 2023. For the first time, the 2023 Yukon Prize also published a longest of finalists, offering recognition to a larger number of talented artists. The 2023 Yukon Prize longlist includes: Justin Apperley, Robyn McLeod, Meshell Melvin, Jackie Olson, Nicole Rayburn and Rosemary Scanlon.
The recipient of the first ever Yukon Prize was Joseph Tisiga, in November 2021. The 2021 Yukon Prize finalists are Ken Anderson (Khàtinas.àxh), Amy Ball, Krystle Silverfox, Sho Sho “Belelige” Esquiro, and Veronica Verkley.
For more information about the prize, please go to the Yukon Prize website at www.yukonprize.ca