Are all art prizes ethical?

Arts Law Australia reviews the terms and conditions of art prizes and rates them from one to five.
five star rating for art prizes

There are hundreds of art prizes and awards in Australia today – a landscape that has no regulation. Understandably then, some are managed more ethically and transparently than others. To help artists manage this quagmire, Arts Law Australia has created a star-rated register.

In 2021, Arts Law reviewed 11 prizes and managed to improve conditions in all but two cases, they told ArtsHub. While there are over 150 prizes on their register, they focus on the prizes that are current.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina