The premier award of the RDS Student Art Awards is the RDS Taylor Art Award. Awarded annually, the Award is made possible by a bequest made by George  Archibald Taylor of Dublin who died in 1854, leaving a sum of £2,000 to his trustees for “the promotion of art and industry in Ireland”. 

By order of the Master in Chancery in 1858, the Trustees, in  consultation with the RDS, prepared a scheme for carrying out  Captain Taylor’s wishes. Under this scheme prizes were offered in competition to Irish art students. The first competition, which was to become the RDS Student Art Awards, was held in 1860.  

Previous winners of the RDS Taylor Art Award have included Walter Osborne, Sir William Orpen, Melanie le Brocquy, Dorothy Cross, Eamonn O’Kane and James Hanley. Since the inception of the Award prize-winners have been selected by a judging panel convened by the RDS and composed of three invited experts in the visual arts. The Chairperson of the judging panel is appointed by the RDS. The Royal Hibernian Academy and the National Gallery of Ireland each appoint one panellist.

The 2010 RDS Student Art Competition marks the 150th Anniversary of the RDS Taylor Art Award. To celebrate this remarkable achievement, the RDS is organising a major retrospective exhibition entitled The RDS Taylor Art Award - Celebrating 150 Years which will take place during February and March 2011. The exhibition will feature some of the most noted works by previous winners of the RDS Taylor Art Award over the last 150 years, many of which are held in private collections unseen by the general public.

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