Courtesy Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Shary Boyle, "Live Old" (2009)

Courtesy Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Graeme Patterson, still from "Grudge Match" (2009)

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The $50,000 (U.S. $42,400) prize is offered to a contemporary artist 40 years of age or younger who is Canadian by birth or residence. The country is divided into five regions, with five semifinalists from each having been announced in March and the list now winnowed to one contender from each area.

Representing Canada’s Prairies and the North is Marcel Dzama, who works in drawing, collage, sculpture, and video. Sculptor David Altmejd is the pick for Quebec, and he, like Dzama, lives in New York.

From the West Coast and Yukon is Luanne Martineau, who makes sculptures out of wool, while Ontario is represented by multi-discipline artist Shary Boyle — she sculpts, paints, draws, and stages performance art, focusing on themes from childhood and adolescence. Rounding out the finalists is Saskatoon native Graeme Patterson, who lives in Halifax and represents the Atlantic region with sculptures that mix video, robotics, and audio.

A panel of curatorial advisers, one from each region, creates the long list from suggestions made by arts agents and institutions. The panel then picks the top entry from each of the five zones to create the shortlist, and it will pick a winner in October. The award was created by the Sobey Art Foundation in 2002 and is administered by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, which will show works from the five finalists from Sept. 5 to Nov. 5.

The four finalists not selected for the award will each get $5,000 ($4,240).