voting procedure

The 2025 Erarta Prize exhibition staged with the special aim of determining the winners through a public vote was held from 7 February through 8 June 2025 at Erarta’s Grand Hall.

• At the close of the first voting round that lasted from 7 February through 21 April, 15 artists ranked from 40th to 26th received a guaranteed reward of 50,000 rubles each. 15 more artists ranked from 25th to 11th were awarded 75,000 rubles each. The top 10 artists who secured the majority of votes in the first voting round qualified for the second.

• In the second voting round, from 22 April through 4 June, the 10 shortlisted artworks competed for the following money prizes: the artists ultimately ranking from 10th to 6th won 100,000 rubles each; the top five artists received 125,000 rubles for the 5th place, 150,000 rubles for the 4th, 175,000 rubles for the 3rd, 200,000 rubles for the 2nd, and the Grand Prix of 500,000 rubles for the 1st place respectively.

Every viewer had one vote for each of the voting rounds. All active Erarta Members and Ticket holders from various parts of Russia who were not be able to travel to St. Petersburg during the period of the 2025 Erarta Prize exhibition had the option to vote in absentia: for each of the voting rounds, every active Member and Ticket holder had one vote that could be cast in favour of the artwork of their choice.

The artists’ exact ranking was determined by the number of votes received by each particular artwork. In the second round, the number of votes was reset to zero, and voting started over. The voting procedure was fair and transparent. The number of viewer votes given to each artwork was displayed on a special screen installed in the exhibition space and could be tracked in real time. Erarta had no power whatsoever to interfere with the voting results which can be verified by any questioning parties after the close of the exhibition.