NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Ogden Museum of Southern Art announced the awards selected for the 2025 edition of Louisiana Contemporary, presented by The Helis Foundation, now on view at the Museum through January 4, 2026. Louisiana Contemporary, presented by The Helis Foundation, is the Museum’s annual juried exhibition. This year’s showcase features 53 works by 50 artists from 1,421 submissions.

The 2025 guest juror, Daniel S. Palmer, Chief Curator at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, has selected the following artists to receive awards:

• The Helis Foundation Art Prize for Best in Show: Karen Ocker, Temple of the Innocent Blood, 2023, Oil painting on board, upholstery fabric, reclaimed wood, spindle, cast iron grate and trombone parts | A Bright Day Ahead, 2025, Oil painting on board, framed with reclaimed wood and cast-iron sewing machine parts | Olympia, 2025, Oil painting on board, framed with reclaimed wood, spindles and trombone and cymbal parts

• First Place: Joelle Nagy, Twin Vigil, 2025, Oil on canvas
• Second Place: Kahlil McKnight, Suit Up, 2024, Oil on canvas
• Third place: Sally Heller, In Mid-Air, 2025, Video

With support from The Helis Foundation, Ogden Museum honors these four artists who highlight some of the most compelling works in the exhibition. The four awards come with grants and special recognition at the Museum. Karen Ocker, the recipient of the lead award, The Helis Foundation Art Prize, will receive an unrestricted grant of $5,000. In addition to these four artists, both Andre’ Hubbard and William Willoughby have been recognized with honorable mentions.

Juror Daniel S. Palmer shares, “I was absolutely blown away by the nearly 1,500 artworks submitted to this year’s Louisiana Contemporary, presented by The Helis Foundation open call! What an inspiring outpouring of creative excellence. There was a massive range of inventive approaches, and every artwork I reviewed reflected the incredible sense of beauty and community that thrives in this singular place. I hope that the selection on display at Ogden Museum encourages visitors to keep searching out the vibrancy that exists all around them.

Above all, the passionate dedication of every artist in this state should inspire the rest of the world to take note!”

Ogden Museum first launched Louisiana Contemporary in 2012 to engage artists living in Louisiana and to highlight the dynamism of art practice throughout the state. Since the inaugural exhibition 13 years ago, Ogden Museum has shown works by over 600 artists, making Louisiana Contemporary an important moment in the national arts calendar to recognize and experience the spectrum and vitality of artistic voices emanating from New Orleans and art communities across Louisiana.