Having become one of Slovakia’s leading initiatives supporting and promoting contemporary visual art over two decades, the Maľba Competition continues with its 21st edition. A jury of renowned experts from Slovakia and abroad has selected a final shortlist of 20 young painters. This autumn, they will compete for the title of Painting 2026 award recipients. The VÚB Foundation will support the three winners with a total of €30,000.
The mission of the Maľba Competition – the VÚB Foundation Award for Young Artists’ Painting – is to support the most distinctive talents among emerging generations of Slovak visual artists and to raise awareness of contemporary painting among both professional and general audiences. The competition continues this mission in its 21st edition. From more than 100 applicants, the international expert jury selected 20 names for the final shortlist.
The following artists are competing for the prestigious award this year (in alphabetical order): Adam Baník, Maroš Bavoľár, Denis Braun, Dávid Čerťanský, Mgr. Art. Alexandra Hrehová, Monika Hurajová, Ľubomíra Chylová Sekerášová, David Javorský, Samuel Kollárik, Anna Kyjovská, Nancy Lacová, Ľubomír Mati, Jakub Ružinský, Denisa Slavkovská, Michal Šumichrast, Michaela Šuranská, Šimon Tóth, Eva Vaňová, Laura Zvěřina, and Lucia Žitnayová.
Each year, the submitted artworks are assessed by an expert jury convened in a unique composition. Key figures from the domestic and international art scenes ensure that the competition gives space to the objectively strongest candidates among the submitted artists. In the 21st edition, the 20 finalists and the winners themselves are selected by a jury comprising: jury chair David Maljković, one of Croatia’s most important and respected contemporary artists; Michał Borowik, a Polish collector of contemporary art, curator and writer; Barbora Kundračíková, a Czech lecturer and art historian; and art theorist Denisa Tomková, a Slovak working at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University in Prague.
In the second round, the expert jury will evaluate the submitted original versions of the finalist works and decide on the three winners. Along with valuable credentials for the development of their future artistic careers, they will receive financial prizes of €5,000, €10,000 and €15,000.
The winners of the Maľba Competition 2026 will receive their awards on 8 October this year, during the opening of the exhibition of finalist works at Nedbalka Gallery in Bratislava. The exhibition of the finalists’ works will subsequently be open to the public free of charge.
