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- The Thinking Hand 2026
The Thinking Hand is a scholarship competition for young draftspeople. The nominees 2026 and their artwork are displayed in a digital gallery on the website 23 April to 23 June.
NOMINEES 2026 are Nicole Khadivi, Carl Fredrik Emrik, Vilgot Björkman, Jacob Adler, Niklas Dahlqvist, Leon Grünberger, Edwin Bjurling, Ingrid Benson, Emma Holmgren and Gustav Harrisson Rodeblad, each participating with several artworks.
Click on each nominee's name or artwork below to enter the artist page and see all their contributions to the scholarship competition and exhibition!
HM THE KING'S SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION is open to young draftspeople working with visual interpretation within art, architecture, fashion, design, illustration, game development and other related fields. The scholarship competition and exhibition is a collaboration between the Royal Court and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
A JURY appoints three of the nominees to the scholarships, each receiving SEK 100,000.
The jury consist of HRH Prince Carl Philip, Permanent secretary at the the Royal Academy Lena From, artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand, architect Jonas Elding and artist Jockum Nordström.
The scholarship recipients will be announced in May.
Tenth anniversary autumn 2026
An exhibition is planned for autumn 2026, 10 October–21 November, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, featuring the 30 artists who by then will have been awarded The Thinking Hand scholarship between 2017 and 2026: The anniversary exhibition External link, opens in new window.
This marks the end of the scholarship competition, which was first established to commemorate His Majesty the King’s 70th birthday in 2016.
In the Bernadotte Family, each generation has shown a commitment to culture and a desire to support those who work with art. We wish to wish to make special mention of Gustaf VI Adolf, a founding member of the Friends of the National Museum in 1911 and whose many years of support for the National Museum's drawing competition 'Young Draftsmen' has been a source of inspiration for the drawing competition 'The Thinking Hand'. Using his position to bring attention to, aid and support young artists was a matter of course for the former king, as it is for our current King and his son Prince Carl Philip, who has served on the jury for the scholarship competition since its inception in 2017.
