Prince Edward Island Arts Awards

As part of its Renewed Action Plan for Arts, Culture and Creative Industries in Prince Edward Island, Innovation PEI is thrilled to administer an Arts Awards program that celebrates excellence and artistic merit across the province of PEI.

The second edition of these annual awards was held in November 2024 and included a celebratory event at which the awards were handed out.

The third edition of the PEI Arts Awards will take place in the fall of 2025.

Award Categories

Awards are presented in the following categories: 

• The Leo Cheverie Cultural Connector of the Year Award (three awards given out in this category): Celebrates an individual, group or organization from PEI whose role as a champion of the arts has had a positive impact on creating access and connections between various communities within the arts and culture sector of the province. 
• The Artist of the Year Award: Celebrates an individual artist regardless of artistic discipline who has had a break-out year in their respective field of practice and has demonstrated outstanding contribution and growth. Assessors will be looking for merit in artistic achievement, momentum for the future, professional recognition, as well as provincial, national and/or international recognition.
• The Organization of the Year Award: Recognizes an organization from PEI whose artistic and cultural contributions have had a significant, positive impact on the provincial landscape, its residents, and visitors.  
• The Premier of Prince Edward Island’s Award for Stand-Out Project of the Year: Recognizes an artist, arts professional, group, collective or arts organization that has produced an innovative artistic or cultural project addressing themes such as reconciliation, climate change, accessibility, digital innovation, and more. 
• The Gertie & Henry Purdy Emerging Visual Arts Bursary: Awarded to an emerging artist in the visual arts to support any activity that encourages training, promotion, exhibition, and leadership in and to the field of practice of the artist. This bursary is intended for creators in the plastic arts fields. Traditionally, these art forms include sculpture, drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, and photography. Filmmaking and media arts are not included.
• The Father Adrien Arsenault Senior Arts Award (awarded bi-annually. The next prize in this category will be awarded in 2025): Honours and acknowledges the excellence of the work of a senior Island artist who has produced a significant body of work in the practice of visual arts, writing and publishing, music, dance, fine craft, theatre, film, or video.

What is the submission process?

Self-nominations are accepted as well as nominations from fellow artists and members of the arts community including, but not limited to, arts champions, cultural workers, board directors, groups and organizations.  

There are no entry fees to submit a nomination. 

If unsuccessful, nominators can submit an updated nomination package to be considered for future awards.

To submit a nomination, please fill out the submission form before the deadline. Applicants who have limited internet access or accessibility needs may mail a copy of the nomination to:

Éliane Laberge
Bilingual Cultural Development Officer  
Innovation PEI
94 Euston Street
Charlottetown, PE  C1A 1W3

Nominations from artists and arts professionals must include a CV or a detailed description of artistic practice and applicable training and experience. Click here for more information about artist CVs. 

Supporting materials: You are invited to include news articles, interviews, publications, samples of work or any other relevant source of information that can contribute to highlighting why the nominee should receive the award you selected and help the peer assessment committee in their selection process. If submitting a nomination by mail, supporting materials can be included as copies. 

The next application period for the Prince Edward Island Arts Awards will be announced in 2025.

Am I eligible for the PEI Arts Awards?

• The awards are open to PEI residents only. To be considered for an award, nominated artists and organizations must have a PEI address as their primary residence for a minimum of twelve consecutive months. Artists on extended travel for their work are still considered PEI residents, but those who move their primary residence to another province or country within the twelve consecutive months previous to the application deadline are not eligible. Groups or bands must have a majority of members reside in PEI.
• There is no age restriction to be considered for an award.  
• Award recipients cannot receive more than one award in their lifetime in the same category. 
• Awards cannot be made posthumously.
• Failure to meet these eligibility criteria will result in disqualification.

How are recipients selected?

Applications will first be vetted by the Innovation PEI Cultural Development team to ensure eligibility. Eligible applications will then be evaluated by an independent peer assessment committee of arts professionals and cultural workers. Following their assessment, assessors will select the strongest candidate among the submitted nominations in their respective category. Peer assessment committee members may also determine that no award will be given if they feel that none of the nominees meet the standards of artistic merit these awards require.

• Nominees will be advised of the selection following the peer assessment process.
• The award recipients will be publicly announced at a celebratory awards ceremony to be held in November.
• Finalists will be contacted by the Cultural Development team to discuss logistics and promotion ahead of the official award ceremony. 

The Awards

• In recognition of their artistic achievement and contribution to the province’s arts and culture sector, recipients in the following categories will receive a cash prize of $3,000 in addition to a unique work of art created in PEI:
  • The Leo Cheverie Cultural Connector of the Year Award
  • The Organization of the Year Award
  • The Artist of the Year Award
  • The Premier of Prince Edward Island’s Award for Stand-Out Project of the Year
• The recipient of the Father Adrien Arsenault Senior Arts Award will receive a cash prize of $4,450 in addition to a unique work of art created in PEI. 
• The recipient of the Gertie & Henry Purdy Emerging Visual Arts Bursary will receive a cash prize of $500 in addition to a unique work of art created in PEI.

Previous PEI Arts Award Recipients

Premier’s Award for Stand-out Project of the Year

• 2023: PEI Writers’ Guild: Are We Friends Now Queer Youth Book
• 2024: Of Growing Concern: 40 Years of Textile Creation Amid the Havoc of Climate Change exhibition by Jane Whitten

Organization of the Year Award

• 2023: Music PEI
• 2024: River Clyde Arts

Leo Cheverie Cultural Connector of the Year Award

• 2023: Lindsay Connolly, Megan Stewart and Melissa Peter-Paul
• 2024: Peter Richards, Sara Roach Lewis and Mi'kmaq Heritage Actors

Gertie & Henry Purdy Emerging Visual Arts Bursary

• 2023: Fairouz Gaballa
• 2024: JoAnna Howlett

Father Adrien Arsenault Senior Arts Award

• 2023: Gerald Beaulieu

Who do I contact with questions or for additional support? 

Éliane Laberge
Bilingual Cultural Development Officer 
Phone: 902-916-1854
Email: evlaberge@gov.pe.ca
Innovation PEI
94 Euston Street, Charlottetown