Sculptors to be nominated for the prestigious 2025 Helgaard Steyn Award
South African sculptors are eligible for this year’s Helgaard Steyn Award, the prestigious annual award recognising excellence in four disciplines, alternating between musical composition, painting, literature and sculpture.
Work produced between 2021 and 2024 can be entered – including free-standing pieces and constructions, works in relief, and indoor or open-air installations in any permanent medium, including ceramics. The work must have been offered for purchase to the public or be currently displayed in a public space.
This year’s panel of adjudicators is chaired by Dr. Louisemarié Combrink from North-West University with Prof. Janine Allen-Spies from the University of the Free State and Mr. Andrew Lamprecht, a curator at the Iziko South African National Gallery.
Past recipients of the Helgaard Steyn Award for Sculpture are renowned artists David Brown (1989), Jackson Hlungwani (1993), Gert Swart (1997), Willem Boshoff (2001), Jan van der Merwe (2005), Andrieta Wentzel (2009), Wim Botha (2013), Angus Taylor (2017) and Mary Sibande (2021).
The closing date for nominations is 26 May 2025.
Inquiries can be sent to: info@helgaardsteynawards.co.za
Nominations for 2025
The following provisions are applicable for nominations of candidates for the Helgaard Steyn Award for Sculpture in 2025:
- Any artist of South African birth is eligible for the Helgaard Steyn Award. The prize is awarded for any work of art considered, in the opinion of the panel of adjudicators, to be the most meritorious in the discipline, provided that it was produced during the preceding four years (2021 to 2024) and that the work was offered for purchase on a public exhibition, or is in a public art collection or currently displayed in a public space.
– - The adjudicators interpret the provisions to imply that the merits of the works of art under consideration would include their exemplification of a high level of artistic achievement and innovative leadership maintained by the artist over an extended period.
– - The adjudicators have the responsibility of reconciling the original stipulations with an inclusive interpretation of the category of sculpture, in keeping with current practice in the visual arts. Thus “sculpture” may be free-standing pieces and constructions, relief works, or indoor or open-air installations in any permanent medium, including ceramics.
– - Submit one PDF document which includes a statement of motivation, a curriculum vitae of the artist and the details of the artwork (including visual documentation). Video material can be submitted, preferably as a link in the PDF document to a video on the web, but the video file can also be sent to info@helgaardsteynawards.co.za, clearly marked with the title of the work and the name of the artist.
– - No correspondence on the merits of any specific award will be undertaken on behalf of the Trust.
Helgaard Steyn Awards are awarded annually, alter- nated in a four-year cycle, to:
The painter who, during the afore-going four years, produced the best painting and offered it for sale at a public exhibition, or who produced such painting, commissioned by a private person or a public body, on the understanding that it be placed in public in a way that allows reasonable public access.
The author of the best work of any nature in Afrikaans that, during the afore-going four years, was offered for sale on the open market in at least three hundred (300) print-copies.
The sculptor who, during the afore-going four years, produced the best sculpture and offered it for sale at a public exhibition, or who produced such sculpture, commissioned by a private person or a public body, on the understanding that it be placed in public in a way that allows reasonable public access.
The composer who, during the afore-going four years, composed the best piece of music and offered at least ten complete copies available for sale on the open market.
The History of the Helgaard Steyn Trust
The Helgaard Steyn Trust originates from the estate of the late Dr. Johan Heinrich (Jan) Steyn. He was born on 20 April, 1902 and was the eldest of six children of Barendina Wilhelmina (Dina) Richter and Hillegard Mulder (Helgaard) Steyn.
Dr. Steyn was an ex-student of the former Grey University College (the present-day University of the Free State). He obtained a doctorate in Economy and Political Science (cum laude) from the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
In 1961, Potchef- stroom University College (the present-day North-West University) awarded him with an honorary doctorate in Economic Science.
Until his retirement, in 1966, he served as an MP for Potchefstroom. Dr. Steyn was never married. He died in Bloemfontein on 15 December, 1983 at the age of 81 years.
