A highly regarded New Zealand art curator and writer, Emma Bugden, has been announced as the judge for the 2017 Rotorua Museum Art Awards.
Ms Bugden has held a number of curatorial roles in New Zealand including senior curator at The Dowse Art Museum, director of Artspace in Auckland and curatorial director at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts in Manukau.
She was a New Zealand nominator for the Signature Art Prize 2017 at the Singapore Art Museum and a member of the 2016 Walters Prize jury.
Ms Bugden has also written for numerous art publications and catalogues, including artist monographs on Michel Tuffery, Saskia Leek, Ann Shelton and Peter Stichbury.
She is co-founder and editor of Small Bore Books, a specialist art and design publisher dedicated to connecting historic texts with new audiences.
Entries for the 2017 Rotorua Museum Art Awards close on Friday, August 11, with works due by Sunday, August 27.
Award winners will be announced at an invitation-only gala night on Friday, September 8.
The exhibition of winners and finalists will be on display at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre from Saturday, September 9 to Friday, October 6.
This year there is a total prize pool of $13,000, including The Rotorua Museum Supreme Award prize of $10,000, the Friends of Rotorua Museum Emerging Artist Award prize of $1000, the Toi Ohomai Innovation in Art Award prize of $1000 and two $500 prizes for the More FM People's Choice Award - one online and one in-gallery.
Rotorua Museum curator Ane Tonga said the Rotorua Museum Art Awards had great potential to showcase the wealth of artistic talent in the region.
"In 2015, there were more than 100 entries from across the Bay of Plenty and we anticipate that this year's entries will continue to demonstrate that our local artists are on equal par with cutting edge art practices across Aotearoa."