Registration opens on Monday, 20 February 2017 while all artworks must be completed and submitted to their nearest collection point between Monday, 24 and Friday, 28 April 2017.

“Compared to previous years, these timelines give artists more time to complete the high-quality submissions the adjudicators are looking for,” says Dr Paul Bayliss, Absa art and museum curator.

L’Atelier 2017– hosted in conjunction with the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA) – enters its 32nd year and is aimed at young, up and coming contemporary visual artists aged 21 to 35. The competition aims to nurture young talent and serves as a platform for emerging artists to make their mark in the African art arena.

The competition is open to artists in the 10 African countries where Barclays Africa has a footprint, namely, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Seychelles and, for the first time in 2017, Mozambique.

Registration will be online (artists can submit up to a maximum of three artworks), with works being physically delivered to collection points for initial adjudication. Physical works will not be accepted at the collection points if artists have not completed their online registration.

Independent adjudicators at the collection points will be announced when registration opens. These adjudicators will select the works that will go forward to the final adjudication round, which will be held in Johannesburg in June 2017.

For more information, visit www.lateliercompetition.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.