NEAC Announces New Climate Emergency Prize

Why a Climate Emergency Prize at the New English Art Club?

The New English Art Club has a long tradition of showing work related directly to the environment. The NEAC was formed partly as a consequence of the radical engagement with nature pioneered by the French Impressionists. This history of plein air observation is still a major strand linking members' working practices.

What is the prize?

The NEAC, with the support of their Patron, His Majesty King Charles III has found sponsorship for a £2,000 Climate Emergency Prize, alongside a £500 runner up prize for the two best artworks in their Annual Exhibition 2025 that address the climate crisis.

The NEAC feel that while no one has all the answers to the current climate crisis, this prize is one small way in which they can help to further raise public awareness of such a critical matter. It also offers those brave artists who feel impelled to address these concerns through their art an opportunity to show their work and maybe even win an award.

The award will be judged by a panel of artists.

Emma Stibbon RA is a British artist whose large-scale drawings and prints consider the complexities of extreme environments undergoing transition and change. Often working from remote locations, among them the polar regions, volcanic terrains, deserts and coastal environments, her approach is driven by her wish to understand how human activity and the forces of nature are shaping our surroundings. Her large scale drawings and prints record the beauty and precariousness of our planet. 

Chris Packham CBE is a naturalist and wildlife campaigner.

Life on Earth is in crisis. Climate breakdown, biodiversity loss. Pandemics not only threaten our species but everything that swims, slithers, slimes, flies... all living things. Mass extinctions have occurred before - this is different, this is a mass extermination. Our species is the driving force and we all know it. And I don't believe that we want that on our conscience, particularly as we have so many ways to ameliorate the worst of the impacts. We have the answers, the solutions, we still have hope. But we have to act, and act urgently, act now.

Science measures the gravity of the issues... I believe that art needs to play a more prominent role in communicating the emergency. The honesty of art, its power to connect with people and stir powerful emotions is irrefutable. That's why I am very pleased to have been asked to help judge this brilliant new prize. Here is a great opportunity for artists to shout out or quietly stir humanity's hearts, an opportunity for art to make a difference.

Olwyn Bowey RA is a British artist whose work focuses on landscape and still-lifes. Bowey's love of the natural world means she often works outdoors, or in her greenhouse, which doubles as a studio.

'I still don’t think of myself as an artist. I always wanted to be a naturalist. I just wanted to be outside.'

Leon Morrocco RSA is a Scottish artist based in London known for his vibrant paintings inspired by his travels.

'It is in the past five years that I have almost exclusively focused on [...] our natural surroundings, specifically in the mountains and hills of the Alpes-Maritimes behind the city of Nice. I am particularly excited by the physical characteristics of this region - crossed by lateral escarpments of white limestone, it is rugged and undomesticated landscape and for me impressive in its timeless monumentality.'