“Art criticism doesn’t pay anything. And in all likelihood in the future it will pay even less so. So what that means is that you have total freedom in what you write about. There is no writing for money. You’re writing for the reader, and reading about art can be as exciting as looking and talking about art.” Those are the words of Jerry Saltz, senior art critic for “New York Magazine,” as told to art writer Melissa Diaz when he came to give a talk at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood. She did the interview for the online contemporary arts site Artlurker, as the 2011 winner of Artlurker’s Miami Writer’s Prize. This year’s prize is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and artist Carlos Betancourt and sponsored by Locust Projects. Next month, May 4 to be exact, is the deadline for submissions for the 2012 Writer’s Prize, which in fact will pay some cash. For eight posts, the winner will get $800, nothing to sneeze at in today’s blogging world.

Special kudos must go to Artlurker’s founder Tom Hollingsworth for not only persevering with a serious website for little or no money, but for instituting this prize, as nurturing art includes nurturing those who can intelligently talk and write about it.

So get out your laptops, would-be art critics, and apply for the prize — it’s win-win for all sides.

These are the qualifications and requirements:

• The Miami Writer’s Prize is open to any resident of Miami-Dade County who is not already on Artlurker’s roster and/or who has not had more than three art-related texts published in print.
• Must be 18 years or older.
• Eligible entrants need to submit one original, previously unpublished review of a recent art-related event to [email protected] by the advertised deadline.
• Shortly after the deadline, at a pre-disclosed date, one entrant is announced on artlurker.com as the winner of the Miami Writer’s Prize. In addition to having their winning entry published, this individual receives an honorary stipend of $800 dollars in return for an eight-post writing placement as a Guest Blogger on artlurker.com. Payment is arranged as needed, but never in advance.

• This year’s prize will be judged by a panel of pre-eminent Web publishers: Noah Becker (“Whitehot Magazine”), Hunter Braithwaite (“There is No There”), Paddy Johnson (“Art Fag City”) and Hrag Vartanian (“Hyperallergic”).
• The winner will be announced via www.artlurker.com on May 18. An awards soiree in their honor will be held at Locust Projects’ new space at 3852 N. Miami Ave. on May 24, 2012.

Entries must be submitted:

• As a Word (.doc) attachment
• In English (translations are accepted, but this must be acknowledged).

• Without images
• Posts must be art related
• Author must have first-hand experience if writing a review of a recent exhibition or event.

For complete information, please go to Miami Writer’s Prize 2012 Press Release and Guidelines .PDF on www.artlurker.com.