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Celebrating 20 Years: Olive Cotton Award finalists announced
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Paul Blackmore Peter Morton 2024, Archival Inkjet Print, 66 x 100 cm. © the Artist.
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Tweed Regional Gallery is proud to announce the 65 finalists in the 2025 Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture, one of Australia’s most esteemed photography awards.
The biennial award, now celebrating its 20th year, recognises excellence in photographic portraiture and offers a major prize of $20,000. This year there were a record number of entries.
The winning work will be announced at an official event on Saturday 30 August, with the exhibition of the finalist’s entries open to the public from Saturday 16 August to Sunday 2 November.
Tweed Regional Gallery Director Ingrid Hedgcock said the calibre of entries continues to grow each year.
"We’re delighted to see such powerful and diverse portraiture submitted for this milestone year of the Award—and blown away by the number of entries we had this year, some 850 in total. The finalists represent a remarkable cross-section of Australian photographic talent," Ms Hedgcock said.
Finalists hail from across the country, including strong representation from the Northern Rivers region. Local artists selected as finalists include:
- Adam Bailey
- Lisa Sorgini
- Craig Tuffin
- Joel Benguigui
- Paul Blackmore
- Elise Derwin
- Tajette O’Halloran
This year’s judging panel includes prominent figures in Australian photography and visual arts:
- Sally McInerney, photographer and daughter of Olive Cotton
- Glenn Iseger-Pilkington (Nhanda Yamatji and Noongar Peoples), Director of Content, Strategy and Partnerships, Aboriginal Cultural Centre Project WA
- Angela Connor, Senior Curator, Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), Victoria
- Shaune Lakin, Senior Curator, Photography, National Gallery of Australia
The Olive Cotton Award is generously funded by the family of Olive Cotton, one of Australia’s most renowned 20th century photographers. Additional awards are supported by the Friends of Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre Inc.
The Gallery would like to acknowledge Sally McInerney and Gallerist Josef Lebovic for their ongoing support of the Award and the Friends of Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre Inc. who fund the Director’s Choice and People’s Choice Awards.
For more information about the exhibition and finalist announcements, visit: gallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au/olive-cotton-award
2025 Olive Cotton Award Opening + Award Announcements
Saturday 30 August | 5 pm – 7 pm | $10
Join us for the Official Opening and Award Announcement of the 2025 Olive Cotton Award with award judges Sally McInerney, Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, Angela Connor, and Shaune Lakin, and attending finalists. Be part of this special 20-year anniversary celebration.
The Olive Cotton Award is funded by the family of Olive Cotton with additional awards funded by the Friends of Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre Inc.
Bookings for the 2025 Olive Cotton Award Opening & Award Announcements will open on Friday 18 July via the following link https://events.humanitix.com/oca25
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Tajette O’Halloran Untitled from The Quarry 2024, digital print of a medium format film photography, 80 x 60 cm. © the Artist
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Paula Mahoney, Seb, Portrait of a Young Gentleman 2025, pigment print, 100 x 67 cm. © The artist.
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Peter Solness, Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen with his magnum opus, ‘Tower of Babel’. Bundeena NSW 2025, pigment inkjet print on cotton rag paper. © the Artist.
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Alex Frayne, Portrait of Joshua Campton 2024, Type C Print on Fine Art Matte, 100 x 75. © the Artist.
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Lauren Starr, I Love My Dog As Much As I Love You 2024, archival inkjet print, 75 x 95 cm © the Artist.
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Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Ali Tahayori Broken Dreams (Untitled 44) from Series "Archive of Longing" 2025, UV print on glass, hand-cut glass, silicone on aluminium 60 x 100 cm © the Artist.
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Downloads
Photo 1: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Paul Blackmore Peter Morton 2024, Archival Inkjet Print, 66 x 100 cm. © the Artist.
Photo 2: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Tajette O’Halloran Untitled from The Quarry 2024, digital print of a medium format film photography, 80 x 60 cm. © the Artist
Photo 3: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Paula Mahoney, Seb, Portrait of a Young Gentleman 2025, pigment print, 100 x 67 cm. © The artist.
Photo 4: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Peter Solness, Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen with his magnum opus, ‘Tower of Babel’. Bundeena NSW 2025, pigment inkjet print on cotton rag paper. © the Artist.
Photo 5: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Alex Frayne, Portrait of Joshua Campton 2024, Type C Print on Fine Art Matte, 100 x 75. © the Artist.
Photo 6: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Lauren Starr, I Love My Dog As Much As I Love You 2024, archival inkjet print, 75 x 95 cm © the Artist.
Photo 7: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist
Image credit: 2025 Olive Cotton Award Finalist Ali Tahayori Broken Dreams (Untitled 44) from Series "Archive of Longing" 2025, UV print on glass, hand-cut glass, silicone on aluminium 60 x 100 cm © the Artist.
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Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
2 Mistral Road (corner of Tweed Valley Way, Murwillumbah South)
PO Box 816 Murwillumbah, NSW 2484
The Gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday 10 am to 4 pm (Café 8:30 am to 4 pm).
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Tweed Shire Council wishes to acknowledge the Ngandowal and Minyungbal speaking people of the Bundjalung Country, in particular the Goodjinburra, Tul-gi-gin and Moorung – Moobah clans, as being the traditional owners and custodians of the land and waters within the Tweed Shire boundaries. Council also acknowledges and respects the Tweed Aboriginal community’s right to speak for its Country and to care for its traditional Country in accordance with its lore, customs and traditions.
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