All competitions · Prize / award
Archibald Prize 2026
Art Gallery of New South Wales · Sydney, Australia
Australia's best-known portrait prize, awarded annually by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Open to artists resident in Australia or New Zealand for the past year; AUD 100,000 to the winner.
Your eligibility
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Who can enter
- Location
- Australia, New Zealand (by country of residence)
- Age
- No age limit
- Career stage
- Any
- Mediums
- Painting
- Size limits
- Max 90,000 sq cm, max height 300 cm.
- Submission
- Online, then physical if shortlisted
- Also
- Resident in Australia or New Zealand for the 12 months to the closing date; portrait painted from life of a subject known to the artist, with at least one live sitting.
About
The Archibald Prize, first awarded 1921, is judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the best portrait, preferentially of someone distinguished in art, letters, science or politics. Portraits must be painted from life with at least one live sitting.
Entrants must have been resident in Australia or New Zealand for the 12 months before the closing date. Online entry forms were open 2 February to 27 March 2026, with works delivered to the Gallery in March.
Finalists are exhibited at the Gallery (9 May to 16 August 2026) and the show tours until August 2027. The winner receives AUD 100,000; finalists receive AUD 1,000 per work; the Packing Room Prize is AUD 3,000 and the ANZ People's Choice AUD 5,000.