The Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts — $50,000 presented by SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts every year for 30 years to distinguished artists such as Stephen Sondheim, Leontyne Price, Ingmar Bergman and the late newsman Don Hewitt — now has a sibling. Instead of just a sizable chunk of change and rather than being limited to oh, the usual great film directors, choreographers, playwrights and composers, the new Meadows Prize will offer four residencies to artists “with an emerging international profile” who are active in one of the,well, arts taught at SMU: advertising, art, art history, arts administration, cinema-television, corporate communications, dance, journalism, music and theater.

I nominate Roger Sterling from the Sterling Cooper Ad Agency.

The prize will include housing for a one-to-three month residency, plus expenses, in addition to a “substantial prize/stipend.” The recipients will be expected to “interact in a substantive way” with Meadows students and to leave a lasting legacy in Dallas — such as a new work of art. The prize is sponsored by the Meadows School and the Meadows Foundation — in partnership with the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts.

The first four prize-winners will be announced during the DCPA’s opening celebrations in October.