New Marie Darlin Prize will recognize outstanding art or literary work with $5,000 award

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is now accepting nominations for the Marie Darlin Prize, a new $5,000 award recognizing an individual or collaboration whose outstanding work of artistic, literary, performative, or scholarly merit expresses a regional commitment to women’s rights, social history, or community advocacy. Nominations will be accepted until April.

The annual award honors Darlin’s life and legacy. Born in 1925, Darlin was a Juneau historian, community advocate, and dedicated volunteer of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. She lived her entire life in Juneau and died in June 2018. The prize is the brainchild of longtime museum volunteer and Friends of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum board member Mike Blackwell, who died in January. Blackwall wanted to highlight the excellence of artistic and written work about this region as well as “put the Juneau-Douglas City Museum on the map” as an institution that values artists and writers.

Prize nominees are writers, visual artists, performing artists, or scholars from Alaska or elsewhere who have completed a significant work that emphasizes community values and regional identity concerning the cultures and peoples of Southeast Alaska, the Yukon, or northern British Columbia. Nominees must have completed a work of enduring value that has been published by a notable press, featured in a solo or group exhibition, or performed at a significant venue within the past five years. The winner will be announced in September. The cash prize of $5,000 may be used as the recipient wishes.

The Marie Darlin Prize is a collaboration between the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, The Friends of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, and the Juneau Community Foundation. The Marie Darlin Prize will officially be announced at a reception following tonight’s Friends of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum annual meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the museum.

Go here for more details on the prize and the nomination process.

For more information, contact Juneau-Douglas City Museum Director Beth Weigel at 586-3572 or [email protected].