Scheme for Giving Awards to Senior Artists in Contemporary Art Field

What is the Scheme for Giving Awards to Senior Artists in Contemporary Art Field?

Scheme for Giving Awards to Senior Artists in Contemporary Art Field is the prize structure attached to Tamil Nadu's State Level Art Exhibition, conducted by the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu, the fine arts wing of the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu. The scheme's purpose is to encourage senior artists and to develop the arts of painting and sculpture by putting the best work in the state on public display and paying for it.

The department describes the mechanism plainly: State Level Exhibitions are conducted with the excellent painting and sculpture works of talented artists chosen by a selection committee constituted by the Government. The best among the exhibited works are then awarded.

The prize structure has two age categories:

Both categories receive certificates of appreciation along with the cash. Fifty artists are recognised in all each year, which makes this one of the larger prize pools in Tamil Nadu's visual arts.

Two additional prizes were added from 2022-23. The department records that from the financial year 2022-23, prize money of Rs 10,000 is given to 10 best art teachers of painting and sculpture, and Rs 10,000 to 10 best authors of books on painting and sculpture. A teacher or a writer on art therefore has a route into the same award cycle without exhibiting a work.

The exhibition is run in the two streams the department works across; traditional art and contemporary art. This particular scheme addresses the contemporary art field, where the senior-category prize of Rs 15,000 is the headline benefit.

Who is eligible for the senior artists award, and who is not eligible?

You can enter the senior category if:

• You are above thirty years of age. That is the boundary the department uses to define the senior category.
• You work in painting or sculpture. This scheme is confined to the visual arts; the performing arts are covered by the District Art Awards and by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram's schemes.
• You are an artist from Tamil Nadu, since the exhibition is a state-level exhibition of the state's artists.
• You have an original work ready to submit. Selection is on the work.

You cannot receive this award if:

• You are below thirty years of age. You are not eligible for the senior category and should enter the junior category, where 20 prizes of Rs 10,000 each are given.
• You work in a performing art rather than painting or sculpture. A musician or dancer is not eligible here and should look at the District Art Awards, which run from Kalai Ilamani at Rs 4,000 to Kalai Mudhumani at Rs 20,000, or the Kalaimamani state award.
• Your work is not selected by the committee for the exhibition. Entry does not guarantee exhibition, and exhibition does not guarantee a prize — the award goes to the best among the exhibited works.
• You submit after entries close. The exhibition runs on an annual cycle with a call for entries, and late submissions are not considered.

There is no income condition, no community condition and no formal qualification requirement. An artist without a fine arts degree competes on the same terms as a graduate of the Government College of Fine Arts. This is a merit competition, not a welfare scheme, and that distinction matters: an artist in financial hardship should separately approach the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, which sanctions Rs 3,000 per month to aged indigent artistes.

How to apply for the senior artists award in the contemporary art field

1. Watch for the call for entries for the State Level Art Exhibition in the traditional and contemporary art categories, announced by the Department of Art and Culture through the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu. Announcements appear on artandculture.tn.gov.in and through the Regional Cultural Centres and the government fine arts colleges.
2. Register as an artist with the Department of Art and Culture. The department runs an online registration for individual fine artists and for performing arts groups, and registration is the practical gateway to being informed about departmental programmes.
3. Prepare the work. Complete an original painting or sculpture that you are willing to part with for the duration of the exhibition, and photograph it properly for the first round of screening.
4. Prepare the paperwork: your biodata setting out training, exhibitions and earlier awards; age proof establishing that you are above thirty years; Aadhaar; residence proof; and a bank passbook copy in your own name.
5. Submit the entry to the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu at the Department of Art and Culture, or at the collection point named in the call for entries, within the closing date, and collect the acknowledgement.
6. Wait for the selection committee, constituted by the Government, to choose the works for the State Level Exhibition.
7. Attend the exhibition and the award function. The best among the exhibited works are awarded the Rs 15,000 cash prize and the certificate of appreciation.

What documents are required?

What else the Department of Art and Culture offers painters and sculptors

The exhibition prize sits inside a wider set of support, and a senior artist should know the whole ladder:

• Kalaichemmal Awards. The Government of Tamil Nadu honours talented traditional and contemporary painters and sculptors with a citation plaque, a cash award of Rs 1,00,000 and a certificate. Six eminent artists are awarded every year. In 2024-25, Kalaichemmal Awards were conferred on 6 eminent artists by the Chief Minister on 6 March 2025. So far 36 eminent artists from traditional art forms and 67 from contemporary art forms have received the title.
• One-man shows and group shows. A sum of Rs 25,000 is given to each of 10 artists for conducting one-man shows, and Rs 50,000 per group to 5 groups for group shows, to encourage talented upcoming artists in painting and sculpture.
• Best art teachers and best authors. From 2022-23, Rs 10,000 each to 10 best art teachers and Rs 10,000 each to 10 best authors of books on painting and sculpture.
• Fine arts scholarships. Educational scholarships are given to outstanding final-year students at the Government Colleges of Fine Arts at Chennai and Kumbakonam.
• Artist identification cards. The department has issued 86,050 identification cards, which give priority to perform or exhibit in government programmes and entitle the holder to travel concessions.

Why entries fail, and how to improve the odds

• Entry submitted after the closing date. Because the call for entries is announced once a year, register with the department and check announcements rather than waiting to hear informally.
• Wrong category. An artist of 29 must enter the junior category. Age proof decides the category, so carry a document that matches the claim.
• Work not original, or previously awarded. The exhibition looks for fresh work by the artist.
• Poor documentation of the work. First screening is frequently done on photographs. A badly lit photograph of a strong painting loses to a well-photographed weaker one.
• Confusing this with a welfare scheme. There is no income test and no guaranteed payment. Fifty prizes are given each year across both categories, and the rest of the exhibited artists receive the exposure but no cash.

Where to ask and where to complain

• State level: the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu, the fine arts wing of the Department of Art and Culture, which conducts the State Level Art Exhibition and administers the prizes.
• Department: the Department of Art and Culture through the contact page at artandculture.tn.gov.in.
• Regional level: the Regional Cultural Centres at Chennai, Kancheepuram, Thanjavur, Madurai, Salem, Tirunelveli, Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore.
• District level: the District Art Society at your district collectorate, chaired by the District Collector.

No fee is charged for entering the State Level Art Exhibition, and no intermediary can secure a prize. Selection rests with the committee constituted by the Government.

How to check your application status

There is no online application-tracking portal for this award, since entry to the State Level Art Exhibition is not a form-based benefit application, it is a submission that a selection committee reviews. Even so, an artist who has submitted a work can follow up at several real points in the cycle.

1. Acknowledgement at submission. When you hand in the work (or the photographs for first screening) to the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu, get a written or stamped acknowledgement that names the entry and the date received. This is your only proof of submission, and you should quote its reference when you follow up later.
2. First-screening result. The selection committee shortlists works from the photographs submitted. Follow up with the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu, at the Department of Art and Culture, using your acknowledgement reference, to learn whether your work has been called forward for the State Level Exhibition.
3. Exhibition listing. If your painting or sculpture is selected, it will be listed and physically displayed at the State Level Art Exhibition. Being invited to exhibit is itself a status update: it means the committee has chosen your work, though it does not yet mean you have won a cash prize.
4. Award announcement. The prize list (30 senior-category winners at Rs 15,000 each, plus the junior category and any teacher/author awards) is announced at the exhibition's award function and typically carried on artandculture.tn.gov.in and through the Regional Cultural Centres. Check this announcement, or ask the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu directly, to confirm whether your exhibited work was among the awarded ones.
5. Payment status. Once announced as a winner, the cash prize is credited to the bank account submitted with your entry. If the credit does not appear within a reasonable time after the award function, contact the Department of Art and Culture through the contact page at artandculture.tn.gov.in/contact-us, quoting your name, the exhibition year and your acknowledgement reference, rather than assuming the prize has lapsed.

Because there is no SMS alert or login-based tracker for this scheme, the acknowledgement slip and a direct follow-up call or visit to the Oviya Nunkalaikkuzhu remain the only reliable ways to check where your entry stands at each stage.