COAL Prize 2026 — The Night

COAL is a French foundation focused on the intersection of contemporary art and ecology. The annual COAL Prize is awarded to a project addressing an environmental theme that shifts each year. The 2026 theme is The Night — framed as defending darkness as a common good, a major ecological issue for regeneration of life, a refuge, and a right to rest.

Selection structure: ten artists are nominated by an internal committee, and the final winners are chosen by an external jury.

The main prize is €12,000 plus a creative residency at Domaine de Belval, run by the François Sommer Foundation. The Special Jury Prize is €3,000. There are two additional partner mentions: the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles mention (€2,000 plus exhibition) and the Ateliers Médicis mention (residency near Paris).

Eligibility is open worldwide across all disciplines — including photography and lens-based media. The award is project-based: applicants submit a proposal rather than a finished body of work.

Each application is a single PDF (max 30MB) including project description, technical note, budget, 2+ HD visuals, CV, and portfolio. Application is free. The 2026 deadline was April 28; results announced Autumn 2026.