When Preview Night opened for The Show on May 6th, guests were welcomed into one of Vancouver’s largest exhibition spaces to view the works of over 300 emerging artists, designers, animators and filmmakers. The event marked the beginning of a weekend of festivities in celebration of Emily Carr University’s Class of 2016.

Earlier in the day, six distinct juries convened for the daunting task of singling out 22 students to receive $32,725 in awards. For graduating students, one of the most anticipated parts of the weekend is learning if their work qualified for an award.

In 2016, two awards were launched, both by long-time faculty and alumnae. The Chick Rice Award for Excellence in Photography was created to support an undergraduate student majoring in photography, whose work in The Show demonstrates excellent conception, production and execution of their final graduation piece. Rice also hopes the award will encourage the artist/photographer to further enhance their development through keen curiosity and passionate inquiry within the vast realm of photo-based image making, visual literacy and meaningful exploration.

The Renée Van Halm + Pietro Widmer Graduation Award for Visual Arts is awarded to a Visual Arts major, graduate or undergraduate, based on the student’s work (painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking) in the The Show. Renée and her husband Pietro created the award to give back to Emily Carr by making a difference in the life of a visual artist.

Katrina Kerluke and Alexine McLeod were the inaugural winners of The Chick Rice Award for Excellence in Photography and The Renée Van Halm + Pietro Widmer Graduation Award for Visual Arts, respectively.

Governor General Medals are given each year to the graduating students with the highest GPA. This year’s recipients were Troy Grondsdahl, Gold Medal (graduate) and Hannah Fisher, Silver Medal (undergraduate). The juries also awarded six honourable mentions. A standout was design student Xian Luo, who received an honourable mention for the piece Social Fabric. Luo’s piece didn’t qualify in any of the award categories but the Design Jury found it to be deserving of recognition. Learn more about The Show juries.

Ninety-five percent of awards for The Show are made possible through the generosity of our donors and community partners. To learn how you can support future leaders and innovators in the creative industries, please contact the Advancement Office at 604 630 4553.