Sean Henry’s Seated Man is frozen in place after a stable snowfall. Photo: Chantelle Bruton. Chantelle – from Tumbarumba – was the inaugural winner of the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail Winter Photo Competition with a photograph of Vaclav Fiala’s sculpture Universum on the Pilot Hill Sculpture Forest.
Photographers are being inspired to discover the Snowy Valleys this winter and seize the area’s distinctive mix of artwork and panorama as a part of the 2026 Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail Winter Photography Competition.
The annual competitors, a partnership between the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail, Sculpture by the Sea and Region Media, is now open and gives entrants the possibility to have their work recognised on a nationwide stage whereas celebrating one among regional NSW’s most distinctive outside artwork experiences.
The photographer behind the successful picture will obtain two nights’ lodging in Bondi throughout Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2026, which runs from 16 October to 2 November, and can be a part of the exhibition’s crew of photographers for a paid day photographing one among Australia’s best-known outside artwork occasions.
The successful {photograph} can even be printed by About Regional and Region Riverina and be featured by the Head On Photo Festival Foundation in its on-line journal, offering invaluable publicity for photographers trying to share their work with a wider viewers.
Region Media editor-in-chief Kim Treasure stated the competitors was a chance to have a good time each regional pictures expertise and the landscapes that made the Snowy Valleys such a compelling vacation spot.
“Some of the most effective photographers in Australia reside and work in regional communities, and this competitors is an opportunity to showcase that expertise to a a lot wider viewers.
“Whether you’re carrying an expert digicam or just taking photographs in your telephone, we hope the competitors evokes individuals to discover the path, uncover new corners of the Snowy Valleys and share their very own perspective of this exceptional outside gallery, the place artwork, panorama and the altering seasons mix to create one thing totally different every single day.
“We’re excited to see the unique ways photographers capture that experience,” Kim stated.
Stretching about 150 kilometres from Tumut to Khancoban, the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail options greater than 60 sculptures by Australian and worldwide artists displayed throughout forests, vineyards, townships and alpine landscapes.
Established following the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, the path has grown into one among regional NSW’s largest everlasting outside sculpture collections and a serious tourism drawcard, attracting guests from throughout Australia and abroad.
Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail founder and Sculpture by the Sea director David Handley stated the competitors was about greater than merely photographing a sculpture.
“What we’re looking for is a photograph that stops people in their tracks,” he stated.
“It is likely to be a dramatic panorama, an surprising angle, stunning mild or a fleeting second that gained’t occur once more.
“The best images tell a story and encourage people to look more closely, both at the artwork and the place where it’s found,” David stated.
The competitors follows the success of final 12 months’s occasion, gained by Gundagai photographer Elizabeth Medyskyj.
Gundagai’s Elizabeth Medyskyi’s successful {photograph} within the 2025 Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail Winter Photography Competition. Photo: Elizabeth Medyskyi.
Her successful picture captured Tony Davis’s Folly Interstice sculpture within the Sugar Pines Sculpture Forest at Laurel Hill beneath a dusting of snow.
The {photograph} highlighted the way in which winter circumstances can rework acquainted artworks and landscapes, creating scenes that will solely final for a couple of hours earlier than disappearing.
Organisers are searching for photographs that seize the fantastic thing about artworks located throughout the cities, vineyards and pure environments of the Snowy Valleys.
Entry is open to photographers of all talent ranges.
To enter, members can {photograph} any sculpture alongside the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail and submit their picture on Instagram or Facebook, tagging @snowyvalleyssculpturetrail, utilizing the hashtag #snowyvalleyssculpturetrail and following each @snowyvalleyssculpturetrail and @sculpturebythesea.
Entrants are additionally inspired to ship a direct message to the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail social media accounts to make sure their entry is seen.
Social media accounts have to be set to public to be eligible.
Alternatively, photographers can submit as much as six photographs by way of e mail to [email protected], the place chosen photographs may be shared by means of the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail’s social media channels.
Entries shut at 11:59 pm AEST on 31 August.
For these planning a winter street journey by means of the area, the competitors gives another excuse to cease, discover and see the Snowy Valleys by means of a unique lens whereas probably turning a memorable second into an award-winning {photograph}.