Rugby Art Gallery and Museum's Open is taking entries until 5pm on 23 November. The winner gets £1,000, and fees start at £8.70 a work for adults.

Artists have until 5pm on Monday 23 November to enter the Rugby Open, the annual exhibition at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. The overall winner receives £1,000, plus £500 towards a solo show in the gallery’s Floor One space.

The council announced the call for entries on 29 October. Selected work goes on show at the Little Elborow Street gallery from 9 December 2026 to 20 February 2027.

Who can enter

The Open is for artists who live, work or study in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire or the city of Coventry. The gallery’s Rugby Open 2026 page sets out the rules:

  • adults can submit up to three pieces, at £8.70 a work, and at least one must be for sale
  • young artists aged 14 to 19 can submit up to two pieces, at £5 a work
  • a bulk discount is available in both categories
  • any medium is welcome, from painting, drawing, print and photography to textiles, ceramics, jewellery and sculpture

You can apply online or on paper, but the work itself has to be brought to the gallery for judging. The full rules are in the gallery’s terms and conditions.

Key dates

What When
Application deadline Monday 23 November, 5pm
Youth work delivered Tuesday 24 November, 12pm to 6.45pm
Adult work delivered Friday 27 November, 10.30am to 5pm, or Saturday 28 November, 10.30am to 3.30pm
Judges meet Monday 30 November
Artists told Tuesday 1 December
Unselected work collected Wednesday 2 December, 12 noon to 7pm
Preview evening Tuesday 8 December, 5.30pm to 8pm
Exhibition open 9 December 2026 to 20 February 2027

The judges and the prizes

The council’s release names three judges from outside the town:

  • Hettie Inniss, an artist named on The Artsy Vanguard 2025 list
  • Gilly Fox, associate curator at the Hayward Gallery in London
  • Timothy Davies, director of Grimm Gallery, which has spaces in London, Amsterdam and New York

Cllr Maggie O’Rourke, the borough’s portfolio holder for partnerships, health and wellbeing, joins the adult panel. The gallery’s page says the Mayor of Rugby, Cllr Nooria Sayani, judges the youth category. When we checked on 1 November, that page still listed the third professional judge as “yet to be announced”, so the release is the more up-to-date of the two.

“The Open gives up-and-coming artists the chance to display work in a professional gallery and reach a wider audience, so I’d encourage all artists to enter,” Cllr O’Rourke said.

Besides the £1,000 first prize, the youth winner receives £250. The gallery lists eleven other awards, including the Mayor’s Award, a People’s Choice award chosen by visitors, and awards from Rugby and District Arts Society, Warwickshire Open Studios and Northants and Rutland Open Studios.

Last year’s winner, Paul Anthony Goalby, has his own show in the Floor One Gallery from 29 November to 13 December, according to the gallery’s page.

What it means for you

  • If you make art: this is a judged show in a public gallery with outside judges, and the fees are low. Leave time for the delivery dates, because the work has to be dropped off in person.
  • If you are 14 to 19: the youth category has its own winner and its own award from the arts society, and costs £5 a piece.
  • If you just want to look: the exhibition opens on 9 December. Opening hours are on our things to do in Rugby page and the gallery’s website.