The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize exhibition is set to open this weekend at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), and will celebrate the prize's 20th anniversary with a record $50,000 award for the eventual winner who will be announced on Thursday 18 September 6.30pm – 8.30pm.
Image supplied.
The prize celebrates excellence in contemporary still photography, welcoming submissions from artists across Australia working with both analogue and digital photo-based media produced in the last year.
Established in 2006 through a foundational gift from the Bowness Family Foundation, the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize has grown over two decades to become one of Australia's most prestigious art awards.
From its origins as a $10,000 award, it has evolved into a nationally significant survey of the medium, recognised for its open and inclusive approach that welcomes both emerging and established artists across all forms of still photography, making its annual exhibition of finalists a vital snapshot of contemporary Australian photographic practice.
The judging panel consisting of celebrated artist Anne Zahalka, Shaune Lakin, and MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea faced the challenging task of selecting the final field of 50 images from over 750 entries.
The landmark 20th-anniversary year sees a suite of significant changes designed to further support artists. The prize pool has been elevated thanks to a substantial philanthropic gift from the Bowness Family Foundation. In addition to the $50,000 grand prize, two honourable mentions will receive $2,500 each. For the first time, all shortlisted artists will also be paid loan fees for the exhibition of their works.
"These changes, enabled by the Bowness Family Foundation, reinforce the prominence of the prize and cement the importance of photography into the future," a spokesperson for the MAPh Foundation stated.
All finalists are also eligible for the Wai Tang Commissioning Award. This $10,000 award, an initiative of the MAPh Foundation, is given to one artist to develop and exhibit a new body of work at the following year's Bowness Photography Prize exhibition.
The public will also have the opportunity to participate by selecting a winner for the $5,000 Community Bank Pinewood People's Choice Award. Voting will commence at the opening of the finalist exhibition and can be cast both in person at the museum and online.
The winners will be announced at Museum of Australian Photography on Thursday 18 September 6.30pm – 8.30pm.
You can RSVP here to register for the event.
You can see more about the history of the Bowness Photography Prize and view previous finalists here.
And you can see the finalists images here.
Finalists are as listed:
Hoda Afshar, Riste Andrievski, Lilah Benetti, Jane E Brown, Jane Burton, Isabella Capezio, Dave Carswell, Zoё Croggon, Zo Damage, J Davies, Gerwyn Davies, Tamara Dean, Rianon Dillon, Ella Dreyfus, Stephen Dupont, Odette England, Guy Grabowsky, Yvette Hamilton, Siri Hayes, Anna Higgins, Naomi Hobson, Ingvar Kenne, Nur Aishah Abdullah Farid Kenton, Shea Kirk, Thomas Ling, Morganna Magee, Sean McKenzie, Gerrie Mifsud, Kent Morris, Phuong Nguyen Le, Kojiro Oishi, SEANOKKAI., Jill Orr, Sonia Payes, Stanislava Pinchuk, Izabela Pluta, Zorica Purlija, Eugenia Raskopoulos, Sarah Rhodes, Elvis Richardson, Jessica Schwientek, Dean Sewell, Ali Tahayori, Cyrus Tang, James Tylor, Justine Varga, Pete Volich, Kai Wasikowski, Wei Weng and Meng-Yu Yan.