Molly Springfield, Page 1, 2006. Graphite on paper.

Artist Molly Springfield will be the lone District representative competing for the 2009 Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize, an award that recognizes the work of a visual artist from D.C., northern Virginia, Maryland, or near Pennsylvania. Organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts and Artscape, the Sondheim award is $25,000 and bragging rights good throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on July 11, and an exhibition of the finalists’ work will be displayed at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

The complete list of finalists includes Leslie Furlong (Baltimore, MD); Ryan Hackett (Kensington, MD); Jessie Lehson (Baltimore, MD); Molly Springfield (Washington, DC); Karen Yasinsky (Baltimore, MD); and The Baltimore Development Cooperative, whose members include Scott Berzofsky, Dane Nester, and Nicholas Wisniewski (Baltimore, MD).

Springfield was named a finalist last year and a semifinalist in 2007. Only Pigtown artists have taken the prize over its short history: Baltimore-based artists Tony Shore and Geoff Grace won in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Twenty-six artists were named as semifinalists back in February.