
Despite both categories of the Golden Fleece Award being of equal significance, less than 20% of the total number of applications received for the 2024 Award were made by craftspeople and applied artists.
This proportional disparity is typical of entries received in recent years, so for the second year running, as part of our current open call the Trustees of the Golden Fleece Award are offering two main Awards of equal value - one in each Award category - in a bid to attract more applications from craftspeople, designers and makers.
As a painter, sculptor, and weaver, the Award's founder - Lillias Mitchell - was an active member of both the visual art and craft communities. The dual aspect of her own work was central to her vision in establishing the Golden Fleece Trust, and it remains central to the ethos of the Golden Fleece Award to this day.
The Trustees are very keen to encourage an increase in the number of submissions to Category 2: Craft + Applied Art, and are endeavouring to reach out to craft and applied art practitioners who may not yet be aware of the Golden Fleece Award or who might think that they are not eligible to apply.
The total prize fund for the 2025 Golden Fleece Award will be in the region of €30,000. From this, two equal Awards of €10,000 will be made - one in Category 1: Visual Art and one in Category 2: Craft + Applied Art.
The deadline for applications in both categories is 5pm on Friday, 29 November 2024. For full details on how to apply, see the Award Guidelines here.
Recently, friend of the Trust, Roger Bennett - who served on the Award's Advisory Panel from 2021 to 2024 - invited a number of past recipients of the Golden Fleece Award in Craft + Applied Art to provide some feedback on their experiences of the Award. Their responses are included in full below. Summarising them, Roger writes:
What comes across in all of these eloquent accounts is the tremendous boost that the Award has given their careers. They describe how the prize fund enabled them to purchase equipment and materials, or set up a studio, or fund research trips, or buy time to develop new work. As well as this, there is the tremendous sense of confidence-building validation, the recognition which the Award brings to the winners.

John Lee - Furnituremaking
2017 Golden Fleece Award
John Lee applied for a Golden Fleece Award in order to allow him to take a step back from the private client commissions that fund the commercial side of his practice and move towards developing a new body of work suitable for exhibition in Ireland and abroad. This could be done without the usual constraints of defined spaces and budgets, enabling him to hone his personal vision.
“Receiving the Golden Fleece Award in 2017 has been one of the highlights of my career to date. It was such an honour to have been initially selected from such a talented pool of artists by the expert Advisory Panel and then chosen by the Board of Trustees for the Award. It is an incredible confidence booster for an artist at any stage in their career.
Aside from the substantial monetary value of the Award, I see the fund as an investment in an artist’s talent, development and future, something that is very hard to monetize. I would encourage any artist to apply for the Award as it provides a great opportunity to reflect on your own work and really consider how you would like to progress as an artist.
From a personal perspective, I applied for the award to help develop new work and take time away from my commissioned work to experiment with new techniques. Seven years on from receiving the Award I’m still investing time in Lillias Mitchell’s investment in my career. Every time I sketch a new concept, pick up a chisel to carve a new sample or shape a new maquette I think of Lillias’s intentions for the fund and my responsibility to play a small part in fulfilling her wishes.
The Golden Fleece Award is more than a one-off financial award to an artist, but a lifelong investment in an artist’s career and future development, something that is invaluable.”

Cecilia Moore - Silversmithing
2018 Golden Fleece Award
Cecilia Moore applied for a Golden Fleece Award seeking the financial support that would allow her to continue focusing on ‘raising’ (an ancient, near-obsolete silversmithing process of repeatedly hammering sheet metal to form hollow sculptural forms) in superior materials – namely silver, a much better medium, in place of the gilding metal she had been using to date – and sound barriers to dampen the noise made by the raising process when working in a shared space.
“Winning the prize made me feel more visible as a serious artist/maker, people took me more seriously, and it gave me more confidence in what I was doing. The Award enabled a year full of activity focused on my work in the studio; also in the wider world travelling to events enabled me to develop relationships with galleries and curators which produced opportunities to exhibit internationally.
Compared to other funding applications the Golden Fleece Award is a simple and straight forward form, and as it was established with a recognition and appreciation of craft and making, applying for it I felt I could be honest in stating I wanted to concentrate on a making process, and how I wanted to achieve this. I applied several times before I was successful, developing my application a little further each time. It is an amazing opportunity for a craft maker and I urge makers to apply for this and keep applying.”

Nuala O’Donovan - Ceramics
2019 Golden Fleece Award and 2017 Merit Award
Nuala O’Donovan applied for a Golden Fleece Award to assist in the creation of a permanent home studio space and purchase of new equipment to fit-out the space. This will mean she no longer has to worry about finding suitable rented spaces that can house the kilns, desks, etc. required to make her ceramic work, and focus instead on the development and expansion of her practice.
“The Golden Fleece Award has been a fantastic support to my career, through the merit and main prizes, over a number of years. The substantial financial awards helped cover the costs of materials, studio rentals, professional photography and shipping so that I could participate in open calls and exhibitions.
I was honoured to be awarded the main prize in 2019 so that I could adapt part of my home into a home studio. This space has proved invaluable. It has given me the security of being able to take on future commitments without the expense and uncertainty of finding studio space. I still occasionally rent a larger space for logistical reasons, but I make most of my work in my home studio, where I have the flexibility to work at any time with no issues around transport or access.
My experience of the Golden Fleece Award is that it is exceptional in its understanding of the practical barriers that artists face and provides financial support to overcome them. It is a highly regarded endorsement of the artist's work and commitment.
I will always feel very honoured and grateful to the Trustees and Advisory Panel of the Golden Fleece Award for their support.”

Lorna Donlon - Textiles
2021 Golden Fleece Award
Lorna Donlon applied for a Golden Fleece Award to support her practice at a critical point in its development. Previously working on a relatively small scale, she planned to dramatically increase the size of her work by building a large vertical tapestry loom and investing in new materials, as well as time to experiment with them.
“Winning the Golden Fleece Award in 2021 was a slightly dreamlike, magical experience. It categorically felt like a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Coming at a pivotal time in the trajectory of my practice, I valued in equal part both the endorsement and the patronage.
The financial award allowed me to reimagine myself as a weaver of large-scale work, having previously woven only on a small domestic scale. Three years later, I am currently hand weaving a large 160 X 160 cm tapestry for an SFI Discover funded UCD Conway Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Research project Cut from The Same Cloth.
For me, by far the most meaningful aspect of winning the Golden Fleece Award was the recognition of my efforts in attempting to make my way in the world through the metier of tapestry weaving. That Lillias Mitchell was herself a weaver makes that recognition all the more personally important to me.
This Award represents a significant lift in the trajectory of the daily graft of a hardworking craftsperson. I continue to feel a great sense of gratitude to the Trustees and to the Advisory Panel of the Golden Fleece Award for believing in my work.”

Laura Quinn - Glass
2022 Golden Fleece Award
Laura Quinn applied for a Golden Fleece Award to invest in specialist workshop equipment for her creative glass practice that will allow her to make the necessary step to becoming a self-sustained maker. This includes a table-top lampworking kiln and floor-standing glass kiln, as well as a flat lap machine.
"I was one of three winners of the Golden Fleece Award in 2022. I applied for funding to purchase specialist glass equipment so that I could start my own glass studio, and develop my practice in a more autonomous way. This significant funding allowed me to purchase equipment that I otherwise would not have been able to do. Over the last two years I have been adding to the resources, and finished building my studio in early summer this year. So far, I have had several students coming to learn from me in one-to-one masterclasses, and I aim to expand my teaching offering to pass on the skills of my craft to as many as I can.
Having this specialist equipment in my own space has also allowed me to develop my own work and skills further, and take on commissions that otherwise I would not have been able to do. The Golden Fleece Award came at a pivotal point in my career, and has helped me in continuing to follow, and expand my craft and my passion."

Cathy Burke - Ceramics
2023 Golden Fleece Special Award
Cathy Burke applied for a Golden Fleece Award to invest more time in her studio practice and to further develop new research that will enhance her making in a more environmentally-conscious way, focusing on ethical provenance in material selection.
"Winning a Golden Fleece Special Award in 2023 was a huge boost to my practice. It gave me immense confidence and the necessary freedom to pursue my making in a considered and concentrated fashion. It allowed me to pursue a time of investigation and experimentation that had previously been unavailable to me. Following that, I have been able to develop exciting new work using those results. The credibility of the Award is enormous. It has certainly boosted my reputation and opened up even more opportunities for my work. Winning has had a lasting impact."

Alan Meredith - Woodturning
2023 Golden Fleece Special Award
Alan Meredith applied for a Golden Fleece Award to invest in practical upgrades to his studio making facilities and equipment which would allow him to scale-up his work and begin creating more challenging and impactful pieces that highlight the dramatic effects of steam-bending.
''Winning the Golden Fleece Special Award 2023 was an incredible boost to me and the development of my work. I used the Award to make improvements to my studio and buy new equipment that has allowed me to increase the scale of my wood-turned vessels. These new works were shown earlier this year at Collect Fair in London and as part of my first solo show, Quercu, at Lavit Gallery, Cork. There is also the recognition that comes with winning a Golden Fleece Award, that in itself has had a positive impact on my practice.''
Genevieve Howard - Wearable Art / Jewellery
2024 Golden Fleece Award
Genevieve Howard applied for a Golden Fleece Award to enable her to develop and produce a new body of work for inclusion in her first solo exhibition at Gallery Marzee in The Netherlands. Employing new material and techniques, objects and wearables will combine with sound and performance in immersive innovative ways within the gallery setting.
“Winning a Golden Fleece Award in 2024 has been an incredible stepping stone in my career as an artist. The prize money enabled me to purchase an integral piece of equipment for my studio space along with materials, which has allowed the production of my work to be more steady and consistent withAward came at a very important time for me as I prepare for my first solo exhibition in Gallery Marzee in June 2025. It also gave me the confidence to continue pursuing art as a career, as at times it can be hard. Recognition at this level motivates you to keep going.”
With very many thanks to the artists, and to Roger Bennett – woodturner and member of the Golden Fleece Advisory Panel 2021-2024 – for collecting and collating past Golden Fleece Award winners’ comments, and for his ongoing support of the Award. You can see his work by visiting www.rogerbennettwoodturner.com.