The Galah Regional Photography Prize has been created to encourage excellence in contemporary photography from regional Australia. The intention of the Prize is to celebrate, support and advance the practice of regional photographers.
If you are an Australian photographer living outside of the major capital cities, this prize is for you.
Key Dates
Entries open November 2024
Entries close 10 February 2025
Finalists announced 28 February 2025
Prize announcement and party 3 May 2025
Exhibition duration 11 April – 8 June 2025
Location
New England Regional Art Museum
106 – 114 Kentucky Street Armidale NSW 2350
Opening hours Tuesday – Sunday 10am–4pm
Who can enter?
The prize is open to regional photographers making any type of still photography – fine art, photojournalism, portraiture, landscape, documentary, collage etc.
To be eligible, you must live in regional Australia. We are using Regional Australia Institute’s definition – “everything beyond the major capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra.”
Eligible postcodes can be found here.
Are there categories?
The purpose of the prize is to support regional artists to pursue whatever photographic form and content they are interested in. The subject matter can be “regional” but it doesn’t have to be. There is no theme. There are no categories. We welcome all types of still, 2D photography – fine art, photojournalism, portraiture, landscape, documentary, collage etc – made by regional photographers.
How much does it cost to enter?
$35 per entry
What are the prizes?
Open prize winner receives $25,000, plus a photographic essay published in Galah’s print magazine
People’s choice winner receives $2,000
Award for Excellence in Photojournalism, presented by Good Weekend magazine, with the winner receiving 4 X 1 hour Zoom mentoring sessions with photographers and editors from Good Weekend
All finalists will be exhibited at NERAM for eight weeks from April 2025. The winners will be announced at a party at NERAM on Saturday 3 May, 2025. All works in the exhibition will be for sale, and artists will receive 70 per cent commission of the sale price.
Who are the judges?
The 2025 judging panel is made up of Director of NERAM Rachael Parsons, Good Weekend magazine editor Katrina Strickland, photographer and winner of the 2023 Galah Regional Photography Prize Adam Ferguson, acclaimed portrait photographer Hugh Stewart, and Galah’s art editor Fiona Bateman.
40 finalists will be chosen from the pool of digital entries submitted here, and the winners will be chosen in person at the finalists’ exhibition.
What happens if I am a finalist?
Finalists will be notified by email by 9 March 2025. Finalists will be required to send their work printed and framed to exhibition standards to NERAM in Armidale between the dates of 31 March to 4 April 2025. All works in the exhibition will be for sale. Finalists can choose to also have a limited edition print run of the work available for sale too, although this is totally optional. See our T&Cs for all the details.
Galah understands the financial burden that printing, framing and freight places on artists. We are raising money here to create an “artists subsidy” fund. The fund will be divided equally between the 40 finalists to help offset these costs.
The Galah Regional Photography Prize is supported by our generous patrons including the Burton Taylor Foundation, and facilitated by Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. We’ve chosen @countryeducationfoundation as our charity partner for this event. The work they do for school leavers in regional Australia is outstanding. And our media partners are the brilliant Good Weekend magazine and local New England media platform REGGIE from the team at FOUND Regional.
Read the Terms and Conditions of entry here