Today (October 14), the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation revealed the names of recipients of the VIVA Awards and the Max Wyman Awards.

This year’s VIVA Awards, which offer a minimum of $12,000 annually, are being presented to three visual artists. This year’s jury members were Julian Hou, Allison Hrabluik, Hannah Jickling, Ben Reeves, and Charlene Vickers.

Each artist will receive $15,000 from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Vancouver-based Lucie Chan is an associate professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and a visual artist who creates multi-layered drawing installations, with a focus on crosscultural narratives and connections between different lives.

Vancouver interdisciplinary artist Cindy Mochizuki maintains an artistic practice that involves multimedia installation, audio fiction, performance, animation, drawing, and community-engaged projects, and uses elements of experimental story-telling, and combines fiction with nonfiction, contemporary and historical elements, and improvisation with preconceived ideas.

Tania Willard, who is of Secwépemc and settler heritage, is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and educator who founded BUSH gallery on Secwépemc territory in the B.C. Interior. Her work includes public art, sculpture, and mixed-media installations.

For the first time, the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation collaborated to present the Max Wyman Award for Critical Writing.

The annual award, established in 2017 by philanthropist Yosef Wosk in honour of Vancouver author and arts critic Max Wyman, recognizes excellence in critical commentary on the visual, performing, and literary arts, and rewards writing that stimulates critical thinking, fosters discussion about arts and culture, and demonstrates the value of creative commentary.

This year’s recipient of the $5,000 award, and a gold and emerald pin designed by Vancouver artist Robert Chaplin, is Dorothy Woodend, freelance writer and culture editor of The Tyee.

The winner of this award then selects an emerging writer for mentorship prize—a residency at the Banff Centre. Woodend chose Vancouver freelance writer and UBC journalism graduate Paloma Pacheco.

“Much has been made in recent years of the so-called death of criticism at the hands of social media,” Wosk stated in a news release. “But in a time of unprecedented social upheaval, informed discussion of the imagined alternatives presented by our artists becomes a vital part of our forward journey. I am delighted that this prize is going to a writer of such insight, empathy and courage.”

The jury for this year’s Max Wyman Award consisted of B.C. Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Brenda Leadlay, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery director Scott Watson, and Max Wyman.

The VIVA Awards have been presented annually since 1988. Unfortunately, this year’s annual awards ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but this year's recipients are being celebrated virtually.