About the Bayside Painting Prize
The Bayside Painting Prize is nationally recognised as Melbourne’s premier painting prize. The finalist exhibition brings together a broad range of artists from across Australia, both established and lesser known, whose varied approaches to the painted medium conveys the breadth and diversity of painting in Australia today.
The Bayside Painting Prize features a non-acquisitive Major Prize of $25,000, a $10,000 Beckett Local Prize (acquisitive), and a $1,000 People’s Choice Award.
Judges
The judges for the 2026 prize are:
Jacqueline Doughty, Assistant Director – Curatorial, Art Gallery of Ballarat
Dr Shelley McSpedden, Senior Curator & Head of Exhibitions, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
Joanna Bosse, Curator, Bayside Gallery
Important dates
- Call for entries open: Saturday 1 November 2025
- Applications close: 5pm, Friday 20 February 2026
- Selection notification: By Friday 20 March 2026
- Artwork delivery to Bayside Gallery: Wednesday 22 April – Friday 24 April 2026
- Opening event at Bayside Gallery: Thursday 30 April 2026
- Finalist exhibition at Bayside Gallery: Friday 1 May – Sunday 14 June 2026
- Artwork collection from Bayside Gallery: Monday 15 – Tuesday 16 June 2026
For further information, including terms & conditions, please visit Bayside Painting Prize.
[Image credits: Bayside Painting Prize 2025, installation views, Bayside Gallery. Photo: Mark Ashkanasy.]
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