GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.- ArtPrize, the radically open, international art competition, tonight awarded $560,000 in cash prizes to the artists of 16 installations, concluding the 19-day event. Throughout the 16-day public voting process, 49,078 people cast 446,850 votes to distribute the ten public awards totaling $360,000. An eight-person panel of internationally renowned arts professionals decided six juried award winners totaling $200,000.

Winning the $200,000 Public Vote Prize was Ann Loveless from Frankfort, Mich., for her landscape art quilt, Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore. Loveless’ installation was located at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Winning the $100,000 Juried Grand Prize was Carlos Bunga, from Barcelona, Spain for Ecosystem, a site-specific, architectural intervention at SiTE:LAB @ 54 Jefferson, using cardboard, tape, and paint.

The 2013 ArtPrize event is intended to celebrate the interactions between artists, critics and viewers in a sweeping conversation, featuring millions of perspectives and opinions. ArtPrize 2013 tested the boundaries of how art is discussed and defined in its largest event to date, with its largest voter base ever and nearly half-million attendees from all over the globe.

“ArtPrize is different and not easy to pigeonhole. It is a massive audience of art lovers from near and far who are open and receptive to new ideas and experiences that are intended to be shared with including everyone, from friends to complete strangers,” said Christian Gaines, executive director of ArtPrize. “Considering the world in which we live, where success is often measured in fleeting, bite-sized, digital morsels, the ArtPrize phenomenon is truly remarkable, and I feel privileged to steward it into the future.”

The top three public vote winners also included Anni Crouter of Flint, Mich. for Polar Expressed, three separate 48” by 72” polar bear paintings, and UPLifitng by Andy Sacksteder, a bronze sculpture depicting two dancers. Crouter and Sacksteder will receive $75,000 and $50,000, respectively. All three top public vote winners were located at the Ford Museum.

To deepen the critical discourse of ArtPrize, world-renowned experts distributed $200,000 in awards and facilitated discussions about the artistic merits of ArtPrize entries. Each juror was responsible for narrowing the long list of 1,524 artists to five in each category, and then selecting a winner.

Juried award winners, who each received $20,000 include:

• Two-Dimensional Kyle Staver, New York, N.Y. Europa and the Flying Fish. Venue: Grand Rapids Brewing Company

• Three-Dimensional Cooley / Lewis, Chattanooga, Tenn. Through the Skies for You. Venue: Kendall College of Art & Design

• Time/Performance Shahzia Sikander, New York, N.Y. The Last Post. Venue: Grand Rapids Art Museum

• Urban Space, J.D. Urban, Brooklyn, N.Y. united.states : an everydaypeople project. Venue: VandenBerg (Calder) Plaza

• Venue, Kendall College of Art & Design of Ferris State University. Curators: Sarah Joseph, Michelle Bosak

• Ox-Bow Residency, Greg Bokor, Beverly, Mass. Erase. Venue: Fountain Street Church

The remaining popular vote award winners, who each received $5,000, included:

• Paul Baliker, Palm Coast, Fl., Dancing with Mother Nature

• Jason Gamrath, Seattle, Wa., Botanica Exotica a Monumental Collection of the Rare beautiful

• Benjamin Gazsi, Morgantown, West Vir., Earth Giant

• Robin Protz, New Hartford, Conn., Myth-or-Logic

• Fraser Smith, St. Pete Beach, Fl., Finding Beauty in Bad Things: Porcelain Vine

• Michael Gard, SanFrancisco, Ca.,Taking Flight

• Nick Jakubiak, Battle Creek, Mich., Tired Pandas

ArtPrize 2013 began Sept. 18 with 1,524 installations by 1,805 artists from 47 countries and 45 U.S. states and territories. Each coordinated independently with one of 168 venues within a three-square-mile district in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hundreds of thousands of people made their way to Grand Rapids to take part in a critical dialog about contemporary art.