Wollumbin Art Award
The 2026 Wollumbin Art Award will open for entries in March 2026.
About the award
The Wollumbin Art Award (WAA) is the Gallery’s biennial $30,000 award open to artists living in the Tweed, Ballina, Byron, Kyogle and Scenic Rim Shires, as well as Richmond Valley, Lismore and Gold Coast City.
The Award, named for the mountain the Gallery overlooks, celebrates the calibre and diversity of artists of the region. There is no theme and artists may submit works in any medium.
The $15,000 Award includes a 2-week residency at the Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio at TRG&MOAC.
The $10,000 Bundjalung Award for First Nations artists is sponsored by the Tweed Regional Gallery Foundation Ltd and includes an exhibition at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre.
The $5,000 Emerging Artist Award is supported by Leanne & Greg Tong-Lyon.
2024 award winners
2024 Wollumbin Art Award winner
Image credit: Hannah Lange, Weaving by the River 2024, acrylic on cotton canvas. © The artist.
Congratulations to Tweed-based Wiradjuri artist Hannah Lange for winning the 2024 Wollumbin Art Award with her painting Weaving by the River.
The $15,000 Award includes a 2-week residency at the Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio at TRG&MOAC.
2024 WAA Bundjalung Award winner
Image credit: Nickolla Clark Ngalwaa ma lee la Brunswick Balun (Gathering on Brunswick River) 2023, ochre on canvas. © The artist. Photograph: Jaka Adamic.
Congratulations to Arakwal Bundjalung artist Nickolla Clark for winning the 2024 WAA Bundjalung Award with her painting Ngalawaa ma lee la Brunswick Balun (Gathering on Brunswick River).
The $10,000 Bundjalung Award for First Nations artists includes an exhibition at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, and this award is sponsored by the Tweed Regional Gallery Foundation Ltd.
2024 WAA Emerging Artist Award winner
Image credit: Joshua Vogel, On the inside there was an innate tenderness 2023, oil on poly cotton. © The artist.
Congratulations to Joshua Vogel for winning the 2024 WAA Emerging Artist Award with his painting On the inside there was an innate tenderness.
The $5,000 Emerging Artist Award is supported by Leanne & Greg Tong-Lyon.
2022 award winners
Amber Wallis, ‘Ivy With Eyes’ 2021, oil on linen, 150 x 130cm.
Michael Philp, ‘Pearly Shells’ 2022, acrylic on canvas, 91 x 122 cm.
Mia Forrest, ‘Red Flowering Gum’, in motion 2022, video.
Images courtesy the artists © The artists
The winner of the inaugural Wollumbin Art Award was Amber Wallis for her painting Ivy with Eyes.
The winner of the inaugural WAA Bundjalung Award was Michael Philp for his painting Pearly shells.
The winner of the inaugural WAA Emerging Artist Award was Mia Forrest for her video work Flowering Red Gum, in motion.
2022 Highly Commended
- Caleb Reid
- Xanthe Dobbie
- Michael Donnelly
- Zion Levy Stewart
- Marian Tubbs
- Nathan Falk
- Amarina Toby
- Brendan Kelly
- Courtney Cook
- Zen Staff.
The 2022 guest judge was curator, writer and Editor of Vault Magazine, Alison Kubler. The 2022 WAA pre-selection panel included the TRG&MOAC Gallery Director and the TRG&MOAC Exhibitions Curator, as well as Kylie Caldwell, Indigenous Art Officer, Arts Northern Rivers and respected Local Elder Aunty Joyce Summers.
View the WAA 2022 catalogue.