Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize 2025

Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize is an initiative of the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery and Fraser Coast Regional Council that seeks to explore our reciprocal, inextricable relationship with the environment through contemporary art.

Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize invites entries from artists working in any visual art medium from across Australia, offering a $25,000 major acquisitive prize. Entrants are invited to submit works that demonstrate a conceptual engagement with the intersection of people, place and the environment. Entrants are encouraged to consider an expanded approach to this theme—Girra is not another landscape prize.

Girra was borne out of the enduring social and cultural importance of the natural environment in the Fraser Coast region, encompassing land, sea and sky. Home of the Butchulla people, the region’s unique natural features include the world’s largest sand island K’Gari and its surrounding waters, recognised as the world’s first Whale Heritage Site.

The Major Prize winner will be awarded a $25,000 acquisitive prize. Their work will become a significant early acquisition for the newly focused art collection of the Fraser Coast.

The finalists’ exhibition, held at the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, will form a compelling story of our nation’s relationship to the environment told through diverse perspectives and aesthetic approaches.

Entries are encouraged from contemporary artists working in any visual art form, including but not limited to painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, installation, performance, and video.

Prizes

2025 Major Acquisitive Prize Winner ($25,000)
Amanda Bennetts, Carve Crevice from Grace, 2024, single-channel digital video, 4K, colour, stereo sound.

Commendations
Ariella Anderson, Core Sample, 2025
Ingvar Kenne, Large Midden on Ngarrindjeri Country (Coorong NP, SA) From the series a portrait of [country], 2024
Johnathon World Peace Bush, Burke and Wills, 2025
Jacqueline Bradley, Calendar, 2024
Joseph Williams Jungarayi, Bush Doctors Series 4, 2025
Christopher Domergue, Patina of Labour, 2025

Hervey Bay Boat Club People's Choice Award Winner ($2,000)
Brian Robinson, Spring + Sprout, 2023

Judges

Judy Watson, Judy Watson (Artist), Michelle Newton (Head of Visual Arts, Creative Australia) and Sarah Thomson (HBRG Director).

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When

Location

Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, 166 Old Maryborough Road, Pialba, 4655, View Map