Prizes and Awards

A prize highlights practices that deserve to be known and emulated. For OIMAP, the aim is to show that scientific rigour and market ethics are not at odds with success but underpin it.

The awards are not a commercial ranking. They constitute neither a label nor a guarantee of the value of a work or a collection.

The jury has nine members: curators, restorers, lawyers, art historians and collectors, appointed for three years. No Secretariat staff member sits on it. Members declare any connection with a candidate and withdraw from deliberations concerning that candidate.

Deliberations are confidential, but the criteria and the composition of the jury are public. The jury writes a citation for each laureate.

The call for applications opens in October and closes in January. The jury examines the files from February to April, hears the finalists in May, and the prizes are presented at the General Assembly in June.

The exact dates are published each year in the calendar. No file submitted after the closing date is examined.

The laureates are welcomed at a public session of the General Assembly. They present their work in ten minutes before the delegations and guests. The ceremony is broadcast live and then published in the video library.

Finalists are also mentioned and receive a diploma. Their work is featured in the newsletter and in the press room.

Candidates undertake to provide accurate information and to comply with legislation on the provenance of property. An application may be set aside if a serious irregularity is established, including after the prize has been awarded.

An ethics committee, separate from the jury, examines reports and may propose the withdrawal of an award. This rule protects the credibility of all the laureates.