The Walters Prize 2012

This week, the exhibition of New Zealand's most prestigious art award opens at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. It is the first Walters Prize presented at the newly developed Gallery and, for the first time in the Prize's history, entry to the exhibition is free.

The Walters Prize is awarded for an outstanding work of contemporary New Zealand art produced and exhibited during the past two years. This year's nominated artworks are by finalists Simon Denny, Alicia Frankovich, Kate Newby, and Sriwhana Spong.

The Walters Prize 2012 International judge, Mami Kataoka, Chief Curator at the Mori Art Museum (MAM) in Tokyo, Japan, will decide and announce the winner at the awards dinner held on the 20 October.

In addition to the prize, the winner receives an all-expense paid trip to New York with the opportunity to exhibit at Saatchi & Saatchi's world headquarters. They also join a celebrated list of former Walters Prize winners and contemporary New Zealand artists: Yvonne Todd, et al., Francis Upritchard, Peter Robinson, and Dan Arps.

Held every two years, the Walters Prize aims to make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life. Named in honour of the late New Zealand artist Gordon Walters, the Prize was established in 2002 by Founding Benefactors and Principal Donors Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame Jenny Gibbs, working together with Auckland Art Gallery.

Finalists for the Walters Prize 2012 Simon Denny: Introductory logic video tutorial shown at Artspace, Sydney (5 March–10 April 2010) Alicia Frankovich: Floor Resistance shown at Hebbel Am Ufer, HAU 3, Berlin, (25 June 2011) Kate Newby: Crawl out your window, shown at Gesellschaft für aktuelle Kunst GAK, Bremen (28 August–7 November 2010) Sriwhana Spong: Fanta Silver and Song shown at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (4 February–5 March 2011)

The Walters Prize 2012