BOGOTA, COLUMBIA – The
Fernando Botero Prize will no longer be given out due to the artist’s recent
comments about juries and the quality of the works that won the award,
Fundacion Jovenes Artistas Colombianos director Maria Elvira Pardo told
the press.The decision to stop handing out the prize, which carried a
$50,000 cash award, was made by the foundation’s management council several days
ago, the El Tiempo newspaper reported on its Web site. The foundation cited
Botero’s statements to Arcadia magazine that he was unhappy because the winning
works “seemed very bad” as the reason for its decision.