Guthrie Award

The Guthrie Award is awarded annually with few exceptions to at most two recipients by the Royal Scottish Academy and is one of the most prestigious art awards in Scotland. It is named after the artist James Guthrie.

Guthrie Award
Awarded for	Outstanding work by artists under 35
Sponsored by	Royal Scottish Academy
Date	1920; 105 years ago (1920)
Country	Scotland
First award	1920
Current Winner	Daniel Nelis

Foundation of award

The award was founded in 1920. It was to commemorate the presidency of the Royal Scottish Academy by James Guthrie. It is awarded for the most outstanding work adjudged in the Royal Scottish Academy exhibition of the year to artists under the age of 35 (although the joint winner of the first award David Macbeth Sutherland was around 37 in 1920).

Scottish-based

It is usual for the award to go to a painting and its artist, but occasionally sculptures and sculptors have also won. In 2021 the award was won by the artist and film-maker Emily Beaney for an experimental documentary. The award is open to any nationality, but the exhibition participants must be based and active in Scotland. The 1994 winner Joe Fan was originally from Hong Kong; the 2008 winner Trine Pedersen was originally from Denmark; the 2023 winner Daniel Nelis is originally from Ireland.^[1]

Members and non-members of the RSA

The under 35 age requirement and the sheer number of exhibits - now around 600 annually - mean that the Guthrie Award is difficult to win more than once; however this has been done: by Heather Ross in 2006 and 2007; and by Julie-Ann Simpson in 2014 and 2019. Non-members of the RSA can apply to be in the Open exhibition, although around only a couple of hundred non-member exhibits make it through annually from the thousands of applications received, as around 400 exhibits are reserved for members.

Prize monies and medals

Usually the award is awarded singularly, but on occasion the award has gone to joint winners. The award, originally made by an anonymous donor but in 1930 revealed to be the late (17th) Earl of Moray,^[2] who gave a monetary value on the capital endowment of £1000 as well as the honour of the award. Nowadays a medal is also presented. In its early years, the monetary award was £50. Today the award monies stand at £750. If the award is shared, the prize monies are also shared.^[3]

List of Guthrie Award winners

The List of Guthrie Award winners is a list of artists who have won the award.

Year	Winning Artist 1	Work 1	Winning Artist 2	Work 2	Notes
1920	Kate Campbell Muirhead	Elizabeth	David Macbeth Sutherland	The Painting Student	Muirhead's work was a bust sculpture, Sutherland's work a painting.[4][5][6] [7]
1921	Cecile Walton	To Nobody Knows Where			[8]
1922	John Rankine Barclay	The Artist's Wife			[9]
1923	James Wallace Ferguson	A Visitor			[10]
1924	Donald Moodie	Autumn Day	George William Salvesen	The Dance	Moodie for a painting, Salvesen for a sculpture.[11][12]
1925	Laelia Armine Cockburn	A Rough Lot for Sale			[13]
1926	David Shanks Ewart	The Toilers			[14]
1927	Ancell Stronach	The Unexpected Meeting			[15]
1928	William Crozier	The 'Cello Player	Margaret Findlay	The Bathers	Findlay's work a sculpture, Crozier's work a painting.[16][17][18]
1929	William Lamb	Ferryden Fisher Wife			A sculpture.[19]
1930	Robert Sivell	Miss Jean O. H. Morton			[20]
1931	Ian Campbell	Self Portrait			[21]
1932	Alister Maitland	Alice Ann			He was noted at the time as the youngest winner, aged 21.[22]
1933	Thomas Whalen	The Amazon			For 3 sculpture works The Amazon, Mother's Kisses, and Torso.[23]
1934	William Wilson	The Alcazar, Segovia			For a group of Wilson's work. The named piece was a drawing. Wilson was a noted engraver.[24]
1935	James McIntosh Patrick	Marion			[25]
1936	Alexander George Oliphant	David Kerr Esq.			[26]
1937	Mary Nicol Neill Armour	Cantaloupe			[27]
1938	Ian Fleming	The Painters: McBryde and Colquhoun			[28]
1939	William Drummond Bone	Leisure			[29]
1940	Scott Sutherland	Labor Vincit			A sculpture.[30]
1941	David Abercrombie Donaldson	Alfred			[31]
1942	James Alan Davie	Brenda Mark			[32]
1943	Alberto Morrocco	Leon	Colin Gibson	Lisbeth	[33]
1944	Margaret Kennedy Mackenzie	Pieta	Gordon Stewart Cameron	Boy with Apple	Mackenzie's work was sculpture, Cameron's work was a painting.[34]
1945	Robert Henderson Blyth	Winter in Walkerburn, 1939			[35]
1946	George William Lennox Paterson	Frank Tweedie and the Birds			[36]
1947	James Hillocks	Portrait of my Mother			[37]
1948	Sinclair Thomson	The White Shawl			[38]
1949	Alistair J. T. Paterson	Still Life			[39]
1950	Tom M. Macnair	Jean Hannan			A terracotta sculpture of a head.[40]
1951	Robin Philipson	Brenda, Spring Portrait			[41]
1952	Ellen Malcolm	Portrait of a Young Man			[42]
1953	William Alexander Burns	Sunday			[43]
1954	Ann Henderson	Composition			A sculpture.[44]
1955	Brenda Clouston	Youth			A sandstone sculpture.[45]
1956	David McClure	?			McClure exhibited five works:- Harbour, Millport; The Green Hill; Trees, Millport; Self portrait; and Flowers At A Window.[46]
1957	Brenda Mark	Figures In Moonlight			[47]
1958	Margot Sandeman	The Walk Across The Fields			[48]
1959	Jean Fleming	?Landscape painting			[49]
1960	John Houston	Pigeons and Village	David Alan Redpath Michie	Red Flower	[50]
1961	William Hunter Littlejohn	Painting 1960			Littlejohn had 3 paintings at the exhibition; the other two being White Glass and Green Bottle, each a still life work. Littlejohn considered that it was his abstract work Painting 1960 that had won the Guthrie Award.[51]
1962	Elizabeth Blackadder	Still Life on a White Table			Blackadder had another two works: Auray; and Breton Church.[52][53]
1963	Alex Campbell	Rehearsal			[54]
1964	Bill Scott	Seated Figure			A sculpture.[55]
1965	Robert Callender	Ludo			[56]
1966	George Alexander Macpherson	?			[57]
1967	Archibald Dunbar McIntosh	?			[58]
1968	John Knox	Swing and Stool - After Uccello			[59]
1969	Alexander Fraser	Shankar at the Blue Piggery			[60]
1970	Leon Morrocco	Figure in a Bedroom			[61][62]
1971	Ian McKenzie Smith	Reflections (Harbour)			[63]
1972	Frances Pelly	Greenheart Woman			[64]
1973	George Donald	Virginia's Quilt			A padded canvas work.[65]
1974	?	?
1975	?	?
1976				Award withheld.[66]
1977	Barbara Rae	Sea Dreamers			[67][66]
1978	Ian Howard	Misdirection			[68]
1979	Ronald Forbes	?			Forbes exhibited two works: All Set; and Scarecrow[69]
1980	?	?
1981	Martin Churchill	Palace Hotel			[70][71]
1982	John Mooney	?			[72]
1983	Ian Robertson	?			[73][74][75]
1984	Lennox Dunbar	Sweep			[76]
1985	David Cook	Fooled You			[77][78]
1986	?	?
1987	Fiona Dean	Still Life With Work Objects			[79][80]
1988	?	?
1989	Jacqui Miller Nixon	Warrior			[81]
1990	Joseph Davie	?			Davie submitted two works:- A Journal Of The Blackout: Unwelcome Heroes; and The Spirit Of The Community[82]
1991	?	?
1992	?	?
1993	David Hosie	?			[83]
1994	Joe Fan	In Evil Hours			[84]
1995	Philip Braham	?			[85]
1996	Robbie Bushe	Laughing Boys, Tomorrow They Will Be Gone			[86]
1997	Stephen Mangan	?			[87]
1998	Barry McGlashan	?			[88]
1999	Alasdair Wallace	Field			[89][90]
2000	Delia Baillie	Fantasies of the Dustbin			[91]
2001	Kevin Dagg	?			A sculpture.[92]
2002	?	?
2003	?	?
2004	Steven MacIver	?			[93]
2005	?	?
2006	Heather Ross	?			[94][95]
2007	Heather Ross	?			[94][95]
2008	Trine Pedersen	?			[96]
2009	Sharon Thomas	?			[97]
2010	?	?
2011	Briony Anderson	?			[98]
2012	?	?
2013	?	?
2014	Julie-Ann Simpson	Among Silver Birches			[99]
2015	Georgia Rose Murray	Rainbow Trout Cormorant Noir			[100]
2016	Emily Moore	?			[101]
2017	Kristina Chan	Leith Theatre, The Stage			A laser etched woodcut.[102]
2018	Ed Compson	Shutterstock Infinity Klee			An oil & laser etching on board.[103]
2019	Julie-Ann Simpson	Stings To Be Gathered			[104]
2020					Online exhibition due to coronavirus pandemic
2021	Emily Beaney	Breaking the Fall			A trilogy of experimental documentaries.[105][106]
2022	Claire Moore	The Murder of Mr Muster			[107]
2023	Daniel Nelis	Dark Turned Fields			[108]
2024	Rae-Yen Song	Song Dynasty Beast			Sculptural costume[109]
2025	James Howden	Tyrant			Sculpture