NUNAVUT - Gerald Kuehl says he knew exactly which drawings he was going to send when he decided to enter a portrait for this year's Kingston Prize.

Gerald Kuehl's drawing of Arviat elder Martha Otuk is one of 30 nominees for this year's Kingston Prize from the Kingston Arts Council in Ontario. - photo courtesy of Gerald Kuehl

"I looked up and I had my drawing of Martha right next to my computer where I work and I went 'oh my God, it's obvious,'" he said.

Kuehl said the entry restrictions required him to send a drawing he had completed within two years before May 1, the deadline for entering the competition.

Canada's National Portrait Competition awards $10,000, known as the Kingston Prize, to the winner of the biannual competition, which began three years ago.

Kaaren Brown, co-founder of the Kingston Arts Council, said Kuehl's drawing is one of 30 portraits selected out of 471 entries from across Canada. She said the council began allowing drawings into the competition in 2007. It was this decision that prompted Kuehl to enter this year's competition.

"In 2007 they finally allowed graphite," Kuehl said. "I only work in graphite so I was thrilled about that."

A panel of judges will announce the winner during an awards gala in Kingston, Ontario on Oct. 8, Brown said. Two Honourable Mention awards of $1,000 will also be presented.

After the portraits are shown in Kingston, the 30 portraits will form an exhibit that will travel to Wolfville, N.S., Toronto and Calgary.

Kuehl said for him, getting the chance to show one of his portraits throughout Canada is worth as much as winning first prize.

"Whether you win the Kingston prize is not the issue - it's the fact that these 30 portraits go on a tour to a number of communities," Kuehl said.

Brown said visitors to each exhibition will have the chance to vote for their favourite portrait and the winner will receive a people's choice award of $1,000.

"Everyone who comes to look at the exhibition gets to vote on his or her choice as the best painting or drawing," she said.

Kuehl said he has been drawing for about 25 years and has spent the past seven years mainly drawing Inuit. He also draws First Nations people and said doing the portraits of aboriginal people allowed him to hear stories about their lives.

"After I started travelling, I started hearing about their lives, surviving in the outdoors, hunters, fishers, trappers," he said.

"I've found that the farther I went north, the more incredible the stories became."

Kuehl said while he was excited to hear he had been nominated for the prize, he knew it would mean sending an original drawing from his home in Manitoba to Kingston.

"I'll be parting with an original," he said. "Whenever I part with an original I'm always on pins and needles until I get it back."

The exhibition in Kingston will be open to the public on Oct. 9.