The theme of the 16th LVMH Young Artists' Awards was a "Tribute to Picasso". The competition has been launched in conjunction with the "Picasso and the Masters" exhibition being held simultaneously at the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay until February 2, 2009.

Students from art schools in France and around the world wishing to participate were asked to submit a work that illustrates the theme "Painting Against".

The theme was selected by Anne Baldassari, Director and Curator of the Musée Picasso in Paris and Curator of this exhibition, which has been put together thanks to support from LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, who explains it with Picasso’s words:

"I paint against the pictures that count for me, but also with whatever is missing in this museum (this imaginary museum). Take good note of this. It is just as important. You need to do what is not there, what has never been done before (…). The paintings that come, even those that do not come, this plays as important a role as you imaginary museum. You have one, but you change it… Even to paint against it…". Picasso quotation cited by André Malraux, La Tête d’Obsidienne, Paris, Gallimard, 1974, p.124-125.

- Interview with Anne Baldassari, Director and Curator of the Musée Picasso in Paris
- Interview with Ruta Taraskeviciute, Award Winner 2007-2008, Tribute to Alberto Giacometti

On May 28 the jury chaired by Anne Baldassari announced six winners among art school students from France and 20 other countries.

Winners from French art schools:

- Coraline de Chiara, Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux arts (Ensba), Paris
- Marc Johnson, Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux arts (Ensba), Paris
- Young Sil Kim, Ecole nationale de la Photographie (ENSP), Arles

Winners from art schools in other countries:

- Susi Kaarel, Ecole d’art de Tartü, Estonie
- Sébastien Le Seigneur, Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (Ecal), Suisse
- Florian Ma Ho Yin, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Hong Kong, China

The six winners will each receive a €4270 scholarship and a round trip plane ticket to the country where they have selected to study at an art school.