Melbourne artist Valerie Sparks has won the 2016 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize with her work 'Prospero's Island – North East' featuring one of Australia’s most iconic landscapes. The MGA Foundation would also like to extend their congratulations to the three recipients of the Colour Factory Honourable Mention: Phaedra Barnes, Stephen Dupont and Tajette O'Halloran.
In 2006 the MGA Foundation established the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize to promote excellence in contemporary Australian photography.
The prize is open to any Australian photographer, whether amateur or professional, and all genres of photography are eligible, provided that the work has been produced in the last 12 months. Each year a panel of three judges considers hundreds of entries and curates an exhibition of finalists, before settling on a single winner. This year’s panel consisted of the award-winning Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi AO, Australian photographer John Gollings and MGA Director Kallie Blauhorn.
While the $25 000 cash prize is highly coveted, the exhibition of finalists also highlights some of the most interesting work being created by photographers today. In this respect, the Bowness Photography Prize has become an important annual survey of contemporary photography in Australia.
Finalists: Tim Allen, Svetlana Bailey, Charlie Barker, Phaedra Barnes, Elaine Batton, Tom Blachford, Jeremy Blincoe, Tammy Boyce, Rachel Sara Bromberg, Chris Budgeon, Hamish Campbell, Brett Canet-Gibson, Brian Cassey, Stuart Chape, Joe Nigel Coleman, Brian Condron, Jo Cripps, Rebecca Dagnall, Michelle Doherty, Chris Duczynski, Stephen Dupont, Mike Gray, Gregory Hann, David Hempenstall, Kern Hendricks, Peter Hyatt, Peter Izzard, Barry Kearney, Mike Keevers, Todd Kennedy, Christopher Köller, Helga Leunig, Margaret Lim, Ireneusz Luty, Kirsten Lyttle, Art Massey, Mia Mala McDonald & Catherine Tipping, Jacqueline Mitelman, Laura Moore, Stu Morley, Tajette O'halloran, Vicky Papas, Sonia Payes, Kim Percy, Matt Portch, Dasha Riley, Hayley Roberts, Russell Shakespeare, Valerie Sparks, Jeff Steele, Rebekah Stuart, Darren Tan, Hiromi Tango, Ben Thomas, Norberto Tongoy, James Tylor, Michael Warnock, Michael Williams and Melissa Williams-Brown.
