Gateway to British Art Prize

In 2020, the Yale Center for British Art and Gateway Community College (GCC) launched the Gateway to British Art Prize. This joint initiative promotes GCC students' interest in viewing and interpreting art by prompting students across academic disciplines to explore the museum's collection. Applicants select one artwork and compose a short nonfiction essay as a response. A panel of independent judges evaluates the annual submissions. The winners receive a cash prize and are highlighted on the YCBA website and social media.

Applications for the 2023 Gateway to British Art Prize open September 1, 2023. Learn more about this opportunity here.

About Gateway Community College

Gateway Community College (GCC) is one of New England’s fastest-growing community colleges. The largest of Connecticut’s twelve community colleges, GCC offers more than ninety associate degrees and certificate programs serving more than 11,000 students each year who take classes for a degree, professional development, or personal enrichment. GCC students represent twenty-four towns and cities throughout Greater New Haven, including Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, West Haven, and Woodbridge. More than 30 percent of GCC students come from outside the college’s service region. For more information, visit GatewayCT.edu and GatewayCT.org, the college’s official news desk.

2022 Prizewinners

First place: CJ Perez
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Staffa, Fingal's Cave, 1831 to 1832

Second place: Yasmina Elsayed
John Frederick Lewis, A Frank Encampment in the Desert of Mount Sinai, 1842

Runner-up: Youssra Al Mtit
William Henry Millais, Hayes Common, 1852 to 1853

Runner-up: Kaitlyn Madigan
John Scarlett Davis, The Interior of the British Institution Gallery, 1829

Read the essays

2021 Prizewinners

First place: Ammar Badawi 
Maggi Hambling, Excavations at the Royal Mint, 1985

Second place: Veronica Novack
Thomas Gainsborough RA, Landscape with Cattle, ca. 1773

Runner-up: Brianna Dragunoff 
Samuel Collings, Frost on the Thames, 1788 to 1789

Runner-up:  Abir Yousef
Samuel Palmer, The Harvest Moon, ca. 1833

Read the essays

2020 Prizewinners

First place: Matthew Scanlon
Stanley William Hayter, Work in Progress, 1936

Second place: Megan Blais
William Turner of Oxford, Shepherd Boy on a Hillside, 1840

Runner-up: Britney Hunt
Attributed to Francis Danby, Sunset at Sea after a Storm, ca. 1824

Runner-up: John Quiroz
John Farnham, Life Form, 1981

Read the essays