Art Awards

The UC Berkeley
South Asia Art & Architecture Dissertation Prize

The UC Berkeley
South Asia Artist Prize

The South Asia Art Initiative at UC Berkeley invites submissions of doctoral dissertations for the annual UC Berkeley South Asia Art & Architecture Dissertation Prize. The prize will be awarded to an outstanding doctoral dissertation on the art, architecture, or visual cultures of South Asia and its diasporas from any discipline in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. The dissertation may focus on any time period from the prehistoric to the contemporary.

The prize comes with a $1,500 award.

Ph.D. dissertations submitted for consideration must have been filed between September 2, 2022 and September 1, 2023 at an accredited university in North America or Europe. The submission package must include the following:

• A pdf abstract (< 1000 words)
• A pdf curriculum vitae (please include your contact information)
• A pdf copy of the dissertation
• A confidential letter from a member of the dissertation committee that speaks to the merits of the dissertation with respect to the current state of the field and the innovation that the work attempts

DEADLINE: The submission package including the dissertation must be in English and submitted via email to Puneeta Kala by December 30, 2023. Late submissions will not be accepted.

The result for the 2023 prize recipient will be announced on the South Asia Art Initiative website on February 14, 2023. The winner will give a talk in conjunction with an expenses-paid award conferral ceremony at UC Berkeley on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

The 2022 Prize Committee: Atreyee Gupta (Chair, University of California, Berkeley), Susan Bean (Independent Scholar + Curator), Monica Juneja (Universität Heidelberg), and Jinah Kim (Harvard University).

All inquiries regarding the UC Berkeley South Asia Art & Architecture Dissertation Prize should be directed to: Puneeta Kala at the Institute for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley

The South Asia Art Initiative at UC Berkeley invites submissions from Master of Fine Arts (MFA) students for the annual UC Berkeley South Asia Artist Prize. The prize will be awarded for an outstanding body of work by an artist of the South Asian diaspora or by those whose work addresses the politics and cultures of South Asia.

The prize comes with a $1,500 award. 

Applicants must have graduated or will graduate with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree between Spring 2023 and Spring 2024 at an accredited school in North America or Europe. The submission package must include the following, and with each file size a maximum of 15MB:

• A pdf Artist Statement (< 1000 words)
• A pdf curriculum vitae (please include your contact information)
• 20 images in a single pdf file and/or
• Links (and password) to Vimeo for up to 15 minutes of time-based work
• A confidential letter of support from a faculty member

DEADLINE: The submission package must be in English and submitted via email to Puneeta Kala by December 30, 2023. Late submissions will not be accepted.

The result for the 2023 prize recipient will be announced on the South Asia Art Initiative website on February 14, 2023. The winner will give an artist talk in conjunction with an expenses-paid award conferral ceremony at UC Berkeley on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

The 2022 Prize Committee: Asma Kazmi (Chair, University of California, Berkeley), Allan deSouza (University of California, Berkeley), Siddhartha V. Shah (Mead Art Museum, Amherst College), and Padma Maitland (California Polytechnic State University).

All inquiries regarding the UC Berkeley South Asia Artist Prize should be directed to: Puneeta Kala at the Institute for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley