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This week’s opportunities
Awards and competitions
2026 Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing
Presented by Nillumbik Shire Council in partnership with Writers Victoria and Yarra Plenty Regional Library, the biennial Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing offers a total prize pool of $17,500 across short story and poetry categories. The 2026 theme is ‘Echoes’. Open to Australian writers with Local (for Nillumbik Shire residents) and Youth (14-18 years) categories. Submissions must be original and unpublished. Entry is free for Youth entrants and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writers.
Entries close 30 September; learn more and apply.
The 32nd annual awards for best short stories are now open for entries. With a total prize pool of $13,050, the categories include: Youth, Body in the Library, Malice Domestic, Cross-Genre, Malice Domestic, Thriller Award, Mystery with History, Art and Crime, Most Satisfying Retribution,and Great Film Idea. The Best Art and Crime Short Story Award offers a first prize of $2000 plus trophy. The awards are open to all women, whether cisgender, transgender or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia.
Entries close 31 August; learn more and enter.
Commissions
Ruby Awards 2025 (SA)
The Ruby Awards recognise artistic excellence, creative achievement, innovation, community involvement and inspirational leadership in South Australia’s arts, cultural and creative industries. Nominations can be for an artistic or creative individual, organisation, performance, exhibition, publication, project, program or event across 11 award categories.
Nominations close 12 August; learn more and nominate.
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Tasmanian Aboriginal artists are invited to apply to create a contemporary exterior artwork for the Botanical Gardens that will become part of the visitor experience. There is an artwork budget of $72,000 plus GST.
Applications close 14 August; learn more and apply.
Deadly Fringe x Fed Square Public Art Commission 2026
Federation Square and Melbourne Fringe have partnered to present a new public art commission. Seeking bold and ambitious ideas in any art form that respond to Fed Square as a site they are inviting First Nations artists across the country to create, develop and showcase new work for the 2026 Melbourne Fringe Festival. The winning idea will receive $150,000 to develop and deliver the work, which will be centred at the heart of the 2026 Melbourne Fringe Curated Program and presented at Fed Square.
EOIs close 20 July; learn more and apply.
Grants and funding
The Regional Arts Fund Project Grants fund high-quality arts projects benefiting regional or remote artists, arts workers, audiences and communities. The focus of the project could include any area of creative practice, multiple art forms or cross-disciplinary practice. Applicants can apply for up to $30,000.
Applications close 15 August; learn more and apply.
Callouts
Midfield (WA)
Fremantle Biennale, Performing Lines WA and STRUT Dance are looking for mid-career choreographers to participate in a three-week experimental choreographic laboratory as part of the 2025 Fremantle Biennale (November 2025). The Midfield program will accept four Perth-based choreographers and three choreographers from either regional WA in Australia, or the Asia-Pacific region. Each successful participant will be supported with an artist fee of $1500 per week for three weeks. Those travelling to Perth will also receive funds for travel, accommodation and per diems.
Applications close 24 July; learn more and apply.
Arts House CultureLAB and The Warehouse Residency
CultureLAB is a development program that supports independent artists, collectives and small to medium organisations to create new work. The Warehouse Residency is Arts House’s main commissioning pathway for Deaf and Disability led projects developed at North Melbourne Town Hall.
EOIs close 7 August for both programs; learn more and apply.
Professional development
AMaGA Museum and Gallery Digital Capability International Residency
AMaGA, in collaboration with Monash University and the Institute for Digital Culture, is offering three international residencies for public museum and gallery professionals. Residencies are available for one early-career, one mid-career and one senior professional.
Applications close 14 July; learn more and apply.
Melt Development Program (Qld)
This program provides support for LGBTQIA+ artists and producers to showcase their work as part of the city-wide Melt Festival (22 October to 9 November 2025). Regional Queensland artists will receive support to travel and present their work with funding of up to $15,000, while Brisbane-creative creatives can also receive funding of up to $10,000. The Melt Development Program is set to support approximately 20 creatives from both South East Queensland and regional communities across the state.
Applications close 14 July; learn more and apply.
Performing Lines Tas Regional Artist Residency
Performing Lines Tas invites expressions of interest from regional performing arts practitioners for the annual Regional Artist Residency. This three-day residency will take place at Giants’ Table and Cottages in Maydena from 7-9 November 2025.
Applications close 24 July; learn more and apply.
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship 2025
The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, administered by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, is awarded to artists aged between 20 and 30 with an established body of work. For the 2025 scholarship, the Studio will offer two types of residencies under the one application: a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, for one artist (alongside $50,000), and a two-week residency at Shark Island Kangaroo Valley for five artists (alongside $10,000 each).
Applications close 28 July; learn more and apply.
BR Whiting Studio Residency 2026–27 (International)
Creative Australia is offering three residencies for Australian writers at the BR Whiting Studio in Rome, ranging from one to six months. Open to poets and other practising writers, the program provides a self-contained apartment in Trastevere and a stipend of $5000, $12,500 or $25,000 depending on the residency length.
Applications close 5 August; learn more and apply.
Keesing Studio Residency 2026-27 (International)
Creative Australia is offering three residencies for Australian writers at the Keesing Studio, located within the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. The program includes two three-month residencies (each with $12,500 support) and one six-month residency ($25,000 support). The studio was leased in 1985 by the late Nancy Keesing to provide Australian writers with the opportunity to live and write in a new and stimulating environment.
Applications close 5 August; learn more and apply.
JamFactory Associate Program (SA)
Emerging artists and designers working in the fields of glass, furniture, ceramics or jewellery/metal can take the opportunity to accelerate their professional and entrepreneurial skills required to establish and maintain a successful career. The program provides a platform for network building and peer to peer learning within a dynamic creative hub that attracts leading art, craft and design industry figures from across Australia and around the world.
Applications close 30 September; learn more and apply.
Want more? Visit our Opportunities page for more open competitions, prizes, EOIs and call-outs.
This week’s winners
Visual arts
Blair Garland has won the 2025 Moreton Bay Art Prize for Flesh and Blood, a textile-based work reflecting on identity, memory and transformation through the lens of menopause. Created using personal materials such as bed linen, scarves and the artist’s own hair, the work engages with themes of ageing and womanhood. Forty-two artists were shortlisted for the prize, which recognises residents of the City of Moreton Bay or First Nations artists connected to the region. The exhibition is on view at Pine Rivers Art Gallery until 19 July.
The winners of this year’s Young Archie awards were announced on Saturday 5 July. They are: 5–8 years category: Logan Zhang, 6, Carlingford, NSW, for his portrait of his father, 9–12 years category: Isobel Bazar, 11, Teven, NSW, for her portrait of her great grandmother, 13–15 years category: Tasha Rogoff, 15, Dover Heights, NSW, for her portrait of her grandfather, and 16–18 years category: Jasmine Rose Lancaster Merton, 16, North Narrabeen, NSW, for her self-portrait. The winners were selected from more than 3200 entries received from across the country and 70 finalists from the four age categories were chosen to be included in a finalists’ exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Performing arts
Elizabeth Younan and Sam Wu have been named as the 2025 Emerging Composers in the Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) Pathways Program. Supported by $96,000 in new funding over two years from Creative Australia, the initiative offers early-career composers immersive residencies in North Queensland, mentorship from senior composers, and the opportunity to compose new works for the AFCM Fellowship Ensemble. These works will be performed live on the main stage, toured regionally and released digitally as part of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In addition, the 2025 ensemble of its Pathways International Masterclasses program has been announced, and will take part in a two-week residency in Townsville/Gurambilbarra from 18 July to 1 August, receiving coaching and mentoring from leading international artists. Among those selected are Sydney-based pianist Catherine Li, violinist Weichao Zhu, violinist Cedar-Rose Newman and pianist Rio Xiang, plus musicians from Infront Brass, Orpheus Quintet and Vanya Quartet.
Writing and publishing
Teacher librarian Libby Baker from Hughes Primary School in the ACT has been named the 2025 Reading Australia Fellow, winning $15,000 from the Copyright Agency to investigate character diversity in Australian picture books. Using functional grammar analysis, Baker’s research will focus on award-winning and nominated picture books from the CBCA Book of the Year Awards, the Koala Awards, the SCBWI Picture Book Illustrator Award, the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) and the Young Australian Best Book Awards (YABBA). Learn more.
Compassion by Julie Janson, An Unexpected Life by Vesna Cvjetićanin and Big, Big Love by Lisa Fuller, illustrated by Samantha Campbell, are among the winners of the 2025 ACT Literary Awards. Winners in each catetory receive $500. Learn more and view the full shortlist.
All
The 2025-27 NSW Heritage Grants Program has awarded $8.65 million to 140 projects across the state, supporting conservation and public access to heritage sites. Two major grants of $1 million each have been awarded to the Newcastle Post Office and Victoria Theatre to enable their reopening. Other funded projects include conservation works at Wollongong’s North Beach Kiosk, Maitland Town Hall, Sydney’s History House, and the Toganmain Woolshed in the Riverina. Nearly $200,000 has been allocated to Aboriginal cultural heritage sites such as Birubi Point Aboriginal Place and St Clair Mission Church School to maintain their cultural significance.
Shortlisted and finalists
Finalists of the 2025 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize have been announced, including Ali Tahayori, Jessie Turner, Miho Watanabe, Shea Kirk and more. The finalists’ exhibition brings together the work of 30 finalists, and will open at Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre on 21 August, with winner of the $30,000 prize to be announced on 23 August. Check out the finalists’ works.
The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs) has announced award finalists across six major categories spotlighting the richness of Blak sound and storytelling. Finalists include hip hop collective 3%, songwriter Emily Wurramara, Andrew Burruwiwi Band, King Stingray, BARKAA, Radical Son, Jessica Mauboy, Emma Donovan and Miss Kaninna. The awards ceremony will be held on 9 August at the Darwin Amphitheatre, with performances from Troy Cassar-Daley, Jessica Mauboy, and more.
Check out previous Opportunities and Awards wraps for more announcements.
