Photo showing Natalia Rivera, Jung Hsu and Adetola Eyimofe Jerry-Adesewo, Credit: tom mesic
2025 Open Call
The Prix Ars Electronica is the world’s most time-honored media arts competition. Winners are eligible for the coveted Golden Nica awards and monetary prizes of up to 10,000 euros in each category. They will also be featured at the Ars Electronica Festival in September 3 – 7, 2025, in Linz, Austria!
The submission phase for the 2025 Prix Ars Electronica has already been completed. The next chance to take part will be in January 2026!
Participation in the Prix Ars Electronica is free of charge and takes place exclusively online. A submission is only valid for participation in the competition if it has been submitted online and also finally completed online. As soon as all documents have been submitted in full, a confirmation of participation will be sent by e-mail.
The 2025 Categories
New Animation Art
Computer animation has been part of the Prix Ars Electronica since its inception in 1987, and it continues to evolve in an extremely dynamic way. This category focuses on works that explore and experiment with visual expression at the intersection of animation, art and technology.
Photo: Smoke and Mirrors / Beatie Wolfe
Artificial Life & Intelligence
The category “Artificial Life & Intelligence“ is dedicated to artistic practice and thinking related to all areas of Artificial Life, Artificial Intelligence, and Life Sciences, including artwork engaging with Biotech, Genetic Engineering, Synthetic Biology etc. as well as Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and any other form of Artificial Intelligence Research.
Photo: Cloud Studies / Forensic Architecture
Digital Musics & Sound Art
Contemporary digital music & sound productions from the broad spectrum of electronica can be entered for consideration in the Digital Musics & Sound Art category, as can works combining sound and media, computer compositions ranging from electro-acoustic to experimental music, as well as sound installations.
Photo: A Tale of Two Seeds: Sound and Silence in Latin America’s Andean Plains / Atractor + Semántica Productions
u19 – create your world
u19 — create your world is the Prix Ars Electronica’s category for young people. It gives kids and youngsters up to age 19 (with residence in Austria) the opportunity to have a say about the world of tomorrow and to produce and present their concepts of and ideas for it.
Verblassende Stimmen / Sonja Höglinger, photo: tom mesic
2025: One submission, six prizes
When submitting to the Prix Ars Electronica, participants also had the opportunity to submit to additional Open Calls that ran in parallel – free of charge!
- Isao Tomita Special Prize: If a project was submitted in the Digital Musics & Sound Art category, it was also considered for the Isao Tomita Special Prize. The winner of this additional prize received €5,000 in prize money and the opportunity to perform at the Ars Electronica Festival!
- Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity: Each submission to the Prix Ars Electronica was also be considered for the Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity, provided it met the criteria. Prize money: €10,000.
- S+T+ARTS Prize: Every submission could be additionally submitted to the European Comission’s S+T+ARTS Prize 2025. The two S+T+ARTS prizewinners each receive €20,000.
- European Union Prize for Citizen Science: The prize is endowed with 60,000 euros and supports outstanding projects whose social and political impact advances the further development of a pluralistic, inclusive and sustainable society in Europe.
- S+T+ARTS Prize Africa 2025 to honor outstanding African artists and institutions whose innovative projects at the intersection of science, technology, and the arts demonstrate the potential to make a substantial impact on economic and social innovation within the continent.
Each main winner of these prizes will be prominently featured at the upcoming 2025 Ars Electronica Festival.
The Jury
Every year since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has honored the world’s best media art works. Once a year a jury of international experts meets in Linz to select the winners of the renowned media art prize.
General notes
A work may be entered in only one category. An artist may submit more than one work. Entrants are requested not to submit irreplaceable originals since submitted materials cannot be returned. In addition to the general entry details and rules, special entry rules apply to each individual category (have a look at the category descriptions). If your entry is awarded a prize or receives a Honorary Mention, your material will be used for the catalog, DVD (CD) and the Prix Ars Electronica website (see Rights), so we ask you to prepare your picture and text material carefully. Employees of the organizers, sponsors and patrons of the Prix Ars Electronica, staff members of organizations that have established and endowed an individual category, as well as the competition’s jurors are ineligible to participate. If you send in additional material pertaining to your submission via regular mail, please send it by the submission deadline (date of postmark is determinative) to: Ars Electroncia Linz GmbH & Co KG, Ars-Electronica-Straße 1, 4040 Linz, Austria, Code: “Category (e.g. Computer Animation)”. Submitting an entry to the Prix Ars Electronica is free of charge.
Schedule
| Announcement and Call for Submissions | January 7, 2025 |
| Extended Submission Deadline | March 10, 2025 |
| Evaluation of formal requirements and preparation of material for jury members, ongoing Jury meeting | April 2025 |
| Information to the winners | immediately after jury meeting |
| Announcement and press conference | July 7, 2025 |
| Presentation at Ars Electronica Festival 2025 | September 3 – 7, 2025 |
Contact
Ars Electronica Linz GmbH & Co KG
Ars-Electronica-Straße 1
4040 Linz
Austria
Emiko Ogawa
Tel. +43.732.7272-781
prix@ars.electronica.art