A new $50,000 prize for photography has been announced by the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and Aeroplan.

The Grange Prize, named in honour of a historic house on AGO property, will first be awarded in spring 2008.

Five photographers will compete annually for the award. Two or three of the candidates, to be chosen by a committee of AGO experts and representatives of Aeroplan, will be Canadian, Bruce Ferguson, AGO director of exhibitions, said in an interview with CBC Online.

The international artists will be chosen from a different area of the world each year — giving an opportunity to showcase the work of photographers from China or South America, Ferguson said.

The international artists will spend a period as artist-in-residence at an art centre or photography school somewhere in Canada.

"We're still working out the partnerships with photo schools," he said, but details should be in place to start the process within two months.

The schools or art centres could select a student or practising photographer to intern with the international candidates.

At the end of the year, all five photographers will participate in a show at the AGO and a winner will be chosen after this exhibition, Ferguson said.

"This gives us the chance to have a popular culture aspect," he said. The amount of weight given to viewer opinions and the method of voting has not been worked out, he said.

"The Grange Prize will nurture and advance the careers of artists and engage Canadians in the burgeoning genre of art photography," AGO chief executive Matthew Teitelbaum said in a statement.

He said the AGO's display space for photographs will increase by 240 per cent when its renovation is complete in 2008.