The Bowness Photography Prize 2026

The Bowness Photography Prize is Australia’s main images award, providing $50,000 to 1 Australian artist working throughout analogue and digital nonetheless image-based practices.

Overview

The Bowness Photography Prize is a serious Australian award for up to date images, open to artists working with analogue and digital nonetheless image-based practices. Organized by the Museum of Australian Photography, the prize awards $50,000 to the chosen artist, with two Honourable Mentions receiving $2,500 every.

All finalists are additionally eligible for the Wai Tang Commissioning Award, which features a $10,000 fee and exhibition alternative. Following a present from the Bowness Family Foundation in 2025, the prize now additionally supplies mortgage charges for shortlisted artists, additional supporting taking part photographers and their work.

Practical Info

The Bowness Photography Prize is open to Australian residents and artists who’ve lived in Australia for no less than 12 months previous to the submission deadline. The entry payment is AUD $55 per submission, with as much as three works allowed per entry.

Entries are accepted throughout analogue and digital nonetheless image-based practices, together with multi-panel and experimental photo-based works. Submitted works will need to have been produced since April 1, 2025. AI-assisted works are permitted provided that synthetic intelligence shouldn’t be the substantial or overriding enter within the creation of the picture, and candidates should clarify how AI was used within the accompanying artist assertion.

A judging panel consisting of two invited specialists and a consultant from the Museum of Australian Photography opinions all submissions digitally earlier than choosing the finalists. The shortlisted works are then exhibited and judged in particular person. Finalists obtain a mortgage payment of AUD $400, and the successful work enters the museum’s everlasting assortment.

About William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize

Established in 2006 by a present from the Bowness household, the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize turned the primary main Australian artwork prize devoted to images as an artwork kind. Over the previous 21 years, greater than 12,000 artists from throughout Australia have submitted work, with over 1,000 works exhibited and 20 acquired into the gathering of the Museum of Australian Photography.

In 2025, a $1 million contribution from the Bowness Family Foundation elevated the primary prize to $50,000, launched two $2,500 Honourable Mentions, and added mortgage charges for shortlisted artists. These adjustments made the Bowness Photography Prize the richest money prize for images in Australia.