$14,000 Awarded To Trawick Prize Winners

The envelope, please.

The winners of the annual Trawick Prize juried contemporary art competition are in, and $14,000 in prize money has been awarded to the top District, Maryland and Virginia artists.

The four winners were announced during a Wednesday evening reception.

“Best in Show” – and $10,000 – was awarded to Baltimore artist Lillian Bayley Hoover. David D’Orio, of Mt. Ranier, took second place and $2,000, and Washington, DC, artist Dean Kessmann won third and $1,000.

Richmond, VA, artist Hannah Walsh took the “Young Artist” award and was honored with $1,000.

The Trawick Prize “Best in Show” is the latest in a string of accolades for Hoover, who has been honored as best “Young Artist” for the Bethesda Painting Awards and has taken two Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Hoover has been a semifinalist three times for both the Trawick Prize and Baltimore’s Sondeim Prize.

The Trawick Prize has awarded more than $126,000 and has exhibited the work of over 100 visual artists since its inception, according to the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, which produces the awards. The regional visual art competition was established in 2003 by Bethesda community activist and philanthropist Carol Trawick.

The jury for this year’s awards included Dawn Gavin, associate professor in drawing and foundations at the University of Maryland, College Park; B. Kelly Gordon, associate curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC; and N. Elizabeth Schlatter, deputy director and curator of exhibitions at the University of Richmond Museums, Virginia.

You can check out the finalists’ artwork at from through Sept. 29. A public reception will be held there from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14, in conjunction with Bethesda Art Walk.