The Sobey Art Award is Canada's largest prize for young Canadian artists.
It is an annual prize given to an artist 40 and under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated.
A jury consisting of an international juror and representatives of galleries from the West Coast and the Yukon, the Prairies and the North, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces creates a longlist of 25 artists, five from each region.
Annie Pootoogook became the first Inuit artist to win the prize in 2006, despite the Sobey foundation failing to recognize her native Nunavut and the Northwest Territories as regions of significant cultural production.
[6] In 2020, Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada decided to distribute the cash award among the 25 finalists rather than just one winner.