Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2026: exhibition

Established in 1994, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize is regarded as the foremost annual open exhibition dedicated to drawing in the UK. From a diverse and impressive worldwide submission of works, 92 drawings by 86 artists were shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2026 from 2,621 entries by 1,403 artists from 48 countries.

A panel of esteemed selectors - Matthew Burrows MBE, artist and founder of Artist Support Pledge, Sook-Kyung Lee, Director of the Whitworth and Professor of Curatorial Practices at The University of Manchester, and Professor Anita Taylor, artist, curator and Associate Vice Principal, University of Dundee - meticulously reviewed all submitted drawings in selecting the shortlist and award-winners.

• The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2026 of £15,000 was awarded to Yvonne Crossley for Octogenarian Dancer, 2025, monofilament & wire, 190 x 70cm
• Student Award of £2,000 was awarded to Elena Grossi for giving only good, only good when giving, 2025, graphite on paper & tape on travertine, 42 x 26 x 2cm
• Three Boroughs' Award of £1,000 was awarded to Lucie Holzer for Stairway at Dusk, 2026, ink, charcoal, graphite pencil on paper, 86 x 66cm.
• Highly Commended: Collapsible Spaces: Interstices Siân Bowen, 2026, pencil and wheat starch on singed and incised kozo paper, 185 x 149 x 2cm; Club Street Malia, 2025, felt pen, Biro on paper, 177 x 322cm; Gary Lawrence, Rhodes Old Town, 2025, Biro on paper, 127 x 119cm; Simon Page ‘I'll be OK', 2024-25, ink on paper, collage, 120 x 130cm

The 2026 exhibition marks the ninth year of generous support from the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust for Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. The Trust also provides additional support for the educational programme devised by Drawing Projects UK, including an Education Pack, a Symposium on 17 September, with Drawing Sessions and Drawing Discussions throughout the exhibition.

Susan Absolon / Elisa Alaluusua / Iain Andrews / Lucy Austin / Fi Bailey / Jeanette Barnes / Sharon Beavan / Vivien Blackett / Mandy Bonnell / Jane Bottery / Sian Bowen / Ruth Brumby / Lucinda Burgess / Caroline Burraway / Richard Burton / Robbie Bushe / Stephen Carley / Annie Cattrell / Louise Cattrell / Jung-Geun Choi / Liz Coxford / Yvonne Crossley / Kelly Cumberland / Adam Dant / Toni Davey / Jane Dixon / Steven Dixon / Sarah Duncan / Roy Eastland / Bella Easton / Kristian Evju / Sophie Firth / Charlie Ford / Efe Gago / Greg Genestine-Charlton / Ann Gillies / The Baron Gilvan / Andy Gomez / Aron Greenwood / Richard Gregory / Nick Grellier / Elena Grossi / Lee Hardman / Russell Herron / Harriet Mena Hill / Tracy Hill / Charlotte Hodes / Lucie Holzer / Alanna Luz Hutton / Christopher Jones / Nick Kennedy / Gary Lawrence / M Lohrum / Juliette Losq / William Lowry / Norman Mathieson / Heather McAteer / Kate McDonnell / Janet Melrose / George Meyrick / Jim Mooney / Tamsin Nagel / Simon Page / Patricia Paolozzi Cain / Lalinthorn Phencharoen / Sandra Porter / Dan Roach / Lewis Robinson / Clive Rose / Eunice Routledge / Paul Ryan / Minty Sainsbury / Solveig Settemsdal / Maggie Shafran / Chris Shaw Hughes / Stuart Shearer / Mark Shields / David Symonds / Sarah Tew / Chris Thomas / Jonathan Waller / Calum Wallis / Hannah Wu / Qinlin Yang / Trevor Youdale / Zhi Qian Jacqueline Yu

"I can see how artists approached drawing as a medium, but also a method, and it's quite amazing to see such variety and diversity of understanding and interpretation." said Sook-Kyung Lee, Director of the Whitworth, The University of Manchester. "Drawing is probably one of the oldest forms of art, and it crosses time, regions and cultures," she added. "You can see different ways of looking at, and capturing, different moments in our lives in these drawings."

"The diversity and breadth of work has been really astonishing," said Matthew Burrows MBE, Artist and Founder of Artist Support Pledge. "It's a tour de force of ideas and of experiences - from life and death to joy and birth.Anyone can pick up a piece of paper and a pencil and make a mark on a surface," he said. "By repeatedly doing that, and looking at it and thinking about it, we learn to see. That's what this prize is really about."