Awards, Prizes,  and Opportunities – listed by closing date. 

5 Jan – the Aboriginal Regional Arts Alliance Cultural Connections Workshop Fund 2025 is now open for applications. This initiative offers 10 facilitation fees of $1,000 to support Aboriginal cultural practitioners in delivering creative workshops across regional and remote NSW between February and May 2025.

8 Jan 2025 –The Bowral Art Gallery now welcomes all entries from BDAS Members for the 2025 Summer Members Exhibition.

10 Jan 2024 – Gallery Exhibition Applications close for Water Through Reeds Gallery, invites emerging and established artists and curators to apply for solo or group exhibitions to be held in 2025 and 2026.

15 Jan 2024 – Perry Prize for Drawing awarded for the drawing chosen as the winning work, by the 2025 judge, yet to be announced, completed within the period of 12 months

24 Jan 2025 – The John Glover Art Prize – Celebrating the legacy of John Glover, The John Glover Art Prize has become one of Australia’s most significant awards for landscape painting, open to artists from anywhere in the world.

3 Feb – Create Exchange, Launching in early 2025, Create Exchange is a program designed to support individual NSW artists and creative practitioners with the skills to thrive in their creative business. This series of webinars, presented by Create NSW, will feature artists and leading industry experts who will provide you with the tools to navigate the business fundamentals of contracts, copyrights, grant application writing and more.

4 Feb 2025 – The Marten Bequest Scholarships
Support for talented young artists to explore, study and develop their artistic gifts through interstate and international travel.

4 Feb 2025 – Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award is presented biennially to the author, aged 30 or under, of an outstanding novel or novella to encourage advancement in their literary career.

4 Feb 2025 – Dal Stivens Literary Award is presented biennially to an author, aged 30 or under, for a short story or essay of the highest literary merit.

4 Feb 2025 – Red Room Poetry Fellowship Australian poets are invited to apply for a week-long residency at Varuna to foster poetic and professional development, supported by mentorship from Red Room Poetry, and with the opportunity for performance and publication. 

6 Feb 2025 – The annual Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition calls on photographers from around the world to celebrate the fauna, flora and natural formations of the Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the New Guinea region. 

7 Feb 2025 –Muswellbrook Art Prize has grown and evolved and is today one of the richest prizes for painting in regional Australia. Finalists for the Muswellbrook Art Prize vie for a total of $70,000 prize money across three prize categories: Painting ($50,000 acquisitive), Works on Paper ($10,000 acquisitive), and Ceramics ($10,000 acquisitive). 

21 Feb 2025 – The Bayside Painting Prize is the only annual painting prize held in Melbourne. The finalist exhibition brings together a broad range of artists from across Australia, both established and lesser known.

23 Feb 2025 – National Regional Arts Fellowship Program,  Creative & Professional Development The  Fellowship provides $20,000 to regional artists and arts workers to support creative practice or professional development, with a focus on sustainability. 

23 Feb 2025 – National Regional Arts Fellowship Program, Early Career Development. The Fellowship provides $10,000 to regional artists and arts workers who are in the early stages of their practice or career and have had less access to funding opportunities. 

28 Feb 2025 – Sydney Film Festival Competition – This festival aims to develop and deliver a sustainable world class film festival, which engages all stakeholders and achieves critical acclaim by presenting a unique program th

Feb 28 2025 –A note-taking training program for First Nations screenwriters. Seeding Storytellers is a note-taking training program for emerging First Nations Screenwriters, supported by Screenrights Cultural Fund, and delivered by Screenworks in partnership with the Australian Writers’ Guild.

2 Mar 2025 –  Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards – Taking place on Larrakia Country, the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA) encourages entries from all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the continent. 

5 Mar 2025 – The Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize is an annual acquisitive prize, launched in 2017 to advance art and opportunity for emerging and established women artists in Australia. It is the highest-value professional artist prize for women in Australia

30 April –  QPRC 2025 Art Awards has a  total prize pool of $25,000, this annual event has become a significant regional art award.

5 May 2025 – 2025 MAKE Award, Biennial Prize for Innovation in Australian Craft and Design, a national award for Australian designer/makers working across all related disciplines including ceramics, glass, furniture/woodwork, metalwork, textiles and fibre, and contemporary jewellery.

30 June 2025 – Australian Screen Production Incentive – Location Offset This program aims aims to provide an incentive for large budget screen productions to film in Australia. It forms part of the Australian Screen Production Incentive that supports film, television and other screen production by providing rebates and incentive