Encouraging excellence in portrait, figure, and relief sculpture 

Administered through The Society of Portrait Sculptors
 

Background
This award, administered through the Society of Portrait Sculptors, is a biennial prize worth £5,000 which started in 2025. It will support one person for a two month visit to a cultural centre in Europe. It is aimed at figurative sculptors who are being given the chance to study in a venue of their choosing in 2027. Applicants have until 30th November 2026 to submit their bids. The prize money will be awarded to the winner in two tranches. There will be an initial payment of £4,000 on the announcement of the winner, and the final payment of £1,000 will follow on completion of the visit.
 
Eligibility – Those eligible to apply must have exhibited at least once at the Society’s FACE exhibitions.
 
Judging Process. The judging panel will review all applications following the deadline date of 30th November 2026 and publish the winner on or before 18th December 2026.
 
Entry requirements
 
Entrants are to provide the following which are be sent either by post or online. 
 

• Application Form.  Click here to download.

• A five-hundred-word description of your motivation for applying to travel to a cultural centre in Europe.

• How you feel the trip would benefit your art and what the sculptural outcomes might be.

• The planned itinerary for the trip. The two-month visit is to be planned between 1 March and 30 September 2027.

• Your C.V. 

• Photographs of ten sculptures illustrating the range of your work, together with the form to sps@portrait-sculpture.org using WeTransfer and with a subject heading ‘Sedlecká Travelling Scholarship Application’:

You are to fulfil the following during and after the visit:
 
During the visit. Send updates (up to a 300 words) each week during your trip, highlighting your experience, details of which will be posted on the Society’s social media sites. For example, these might include sketches from diary entries kept during the visit.
 
Following your return. You are to make a sculpture inspired by the visit. It will be displayed at the Society’s FACE exhibition in the year following the visit.  Regular updates of the development of the sculpture will also be published on the Society’s social media sites.
 
Booking arrangements. You are responsible for making your own travel and accommodation arrangements, details of which are to be passed to Fiona Whitehouse when they are known.