Den tänkande handen

Den tänkande handen is a competition and exhibition for young artists working within art, architecture, comics, animation, fashion, design, illustration, game development or related fields. This prestigious award is a collaboration between the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Konstakademien) and the Royal Court of Sweden. The competition aims to showcase how participants apply drawing both as a technique and genre and what free creation within the art form can mean. Ten competition participants are nominated by a selection committee and invited to exhibit their entries digitally. Of these ten participants, a jury selects three stipend recipients who are each awarded 100,000 SEK at a ceremony at the Royal Palace. The competition was established in 2016 on the occasion of the King of Sweden's 70th birthday and is supported through a grant fund established by Elisabeth and Gustaf Douglas. The fund is administered by Konstakademien. In 2026, the competition will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with a special exhibition featuring all 30 stipend recipients from 2017-2026.