From my perspective, as the spouse of the artist and the one who submits to calls, it is truly a numbers game. It is also so very subjective depending on the panel who views the images.
An artist may think they are the right fit for an award, but once again there are many great artists and so many subjective viewers. An artist may or may not ever get an award, but we have submitted to 151 calls and we have been awarded seven commissions, we are on six pre-qualified lists and have several Art in Public Places commissions. We started seriously pursuing public art opportunities in October 2016 and our success rate is .09%.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Nina