A University of Guelph student and a graduate are among the 15 nominees from across Canada in this year’s RBC Canadian Painting Competition.

Master of fine art candidate Ambera Wellmann and studio art graduate Wallis Cheung were selected as finalists for the prize, regarded as one of the top arts prizes in Canada.

The winner of the 2016 RBC Canadian Painting Competition, to be announced Sept. 20 at the Power Plant in Toronto, will receive a cash prize of $25,000. Two honourable mentions each receive $15,000, and the remaining 12 finalists receive $2,500 each.

The top three paintings will also be acquired by RBC’s corporate art collection, and the finalists will all receive informal mentorship opportunities with jury members and financial skills development with advisers.

Wellman’s entry is entitled Wunde and is an oil on wood painting.

Earlier this year, Wellmann won the Joseph Plaskett Award for graduate-level painters. She has exhibited in Halifax and Toronto, and will have a show at Dupont Projects in Toronto.

Cheung, a 2008 graduate, was also nominated for the 2014 RBC competition. Her 2016 entry is entitled Frame as void.

While she maintains her own individual painting practice, she is a member of the active art collective VSVSVS, based in Toronto.