$30,000 Prize Fund

Open Call: Jan 31st – May 23rd, 2025.

Nine award categories for digital innovation, spanning technology and creativity.

Our partners

2025 Prize Dates

Open Call

Jan 31 - May 23

Judging Commences

May 23

Winners Announced

October

Finalists Announced

August 15

Categories

These are the nine categories you may enter, each with a $2,000 prize.

All submissions will be reviewed by members of our International Selectors Committee. 50-75 artists will become finalists, whose work will then be reviewed and selected by the Jury Panel.

Each year the Jury also selects one Gold Award Winner, who is determined to have created the best work across all categories. In 2025, the Gold Award Winner will be awarded $12,000.

Digital artworks in fixed form: photography, painting, illustration and AI-generated imagery
Time-based works including film, video art and animation
Live and recorded works combining digital technology with performance, dance, sound and music
Innovative works across fashion, architecture, and product design using digital processes
Artworks that co-exist in both the digital and physical spaces
Interactive and/or immersive works including XR, installations, environments and light art
Works exploring language and text through digital means
Works examining environmental themes and our relationship with the natural world
Works exploring personal and collective identity, heritage and cultural exchange

The Jury Panel

The Lumen Prize upholds a rigorous, two-stage judging process. An esteemed International Selectors Committee meticulously curates a longlist of up to 70 exceptional artworks, identifying them as finalists. These finalists are then critically evaluated by a distinguished Jury Panel comprising influential figures in art, technology, and culture. Ultimately, the Jury Panel selects the winners, including the prestigious Lumen Prize Gold Award, celebrating groundbreaking artworks fusing creativity and innovation.

Ruth Catlow

Co-Director, Furtherfield
Melanie Lenz

Digital Curator, V&A Museum
Kate Gu

Associate Curator, Digital Special Projects, M+ Hong Kong
Boris Magrini

Senior Curator, LAS Art Foundation
Christiane Paul

Adjunct Curator, Digital Art, Whitney Museum

The International Selectors Committee

The International Selectors Committee is made up of over 50+ diverse professionals from around the world at the forefront of the digital art movement. Previous ISC members have hailed from institutions such as: Google, Royal College of Art, Sotheby’s, Goldsmiths, Tezos, Christie’s, and Parsons School of Design, among others.

Curatorial Grants

Starting January 31, 2025, we invite proposals for our $5,000 Curatorial Grant to create exhibitions exploring art, design, and technology through Lumen Prize artists' work. Exhibitions must include at least 3 artists from our archive, or after August 15, include at least 1 artist from our 2025 cohort. Applications require a confirmed public venue partnership, with exhibitions opening within 12 months of approval. We evaluate proposals based on curatorial vision, feasibility, public engagement, exhibition innovation, and geographic impact.

Theresa Reiwer

2024 Gold Award winner
“Winning the Lumen Prize Gold Award has been an important milestone in my artistic journey. This recognition amplified the visibility of my work and connected me with forward-thinking curators and innovative artists that I hadn't known before in person. Lumen fosters a global network and serves as a platform for exchange and dialogue, and I am very much looking forward to the things to come.”
Diego Trujillo Pisantry

2024 Still Image Award Winner
“Receiving the Lumen Prize has greatly boosted my work’s visibility and paved the way for new and exciting opportunities. It is an honour to be part of a community devoted to acknowledging technology 's impact on art.”
Lukas Truniger

2024 Impact Award Winner
“Receiving the Lumen Award in the Impact category was a wonderful opportunity to meet the diversity of the Lumen community and to take part in the ongoing reflection on how we can shape our contemporary societies, weaving meaningful links between different fields and perspectives.”
Parsons & Charlesworth

2024 Futures Award Winner
The opportunity to be part of the Lumen family has helped us think about different outlets and formats our work could exist within both in the UK and internationally. The prize introduced our work to a new and broader audience beyond design.
The Lumen team has been very active in helping us look for new opportunities and venues for our work. The prize enabled us to meet other fantastic artists and expand our network. Having our work be featured in press outlets such as The Art Newspaper was a real highlight.
Yuqian Sun

2024 Carla Rapoport Winner
“Lumen has witnessed and supported my journey from a graduate student to a professional artist working with emerging technologies. It is the most supportive and warm artist community I could ever imagine.”
Julieta Gil

2020 Gold Award Winner
“Lumen provides an opportunity to be part of a community who believes in the need to shape the conversation about what it means to make art with technology in the current world.”
Andy Lomas

2014 Gold Award Winner
“Winning the Lumen Prize in 2014 had a big effect on my artwork practice. It’s the award that keeps on giving: from the events and exhibitions organized by the Lumen Prize together with related organizations.”