The ACAR Art Prize is set to be one of Australia's most significant art competitions. It is specifically designed to celebrate and encourage art that embodies the spirit of Australia-China cultural exchange.

A logo with a gold Chinese character on the left and the words 'ACAR ART PRIZE' in white on a black background.

The Inaugural ACAR Art Prize

Online Exhibition
VOTE FOR PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD

2026 Winners

WINNER

ACAR ART PRIZE (ACQUISITIVE) - $100,000

Peter Godwin
Li River (Pale Peak and Mist), Painting

Abstract painting with dark and muted tones, featuring large, blurry shapes that resemble mountains or cliffs, with some black and white drips and streaks at the bottom.

WINNER - Digital Art Award, $5,000

(supported by BlackDiamondz)

Xue Geng
Seven-Day Dream, Video

Collection of abstract digital art images with poetic text overlay. Top row: ghostly deer figures in moonlit landscape. Second row: glowing blue jellyfish-like creatures and a close-up of luminous eyes. Third row: rugged mountain scene with sleeping soldiers and glowing structures. Fourth row: fiery imagery with a glowing deer figure and embers. Fifth and sixth rows: translucent animal shapes and figures illuminated from within, resembling a deer, a horse, and a dog. Bottom row: digital landscape of buildings and water with poetic text about a house and memories.

WINNER - Supernova Award, $5,000

(supported by BlackDiamondz)

Ziyuan Shi
Echo, Installation

A digital display of a nature scene with trees and rocks is set up on rocks in a dark, modern room with wooden walls and vertical windows.

Highly Commended

Xiaoxue Zhang
To install a heart in Taihu rock, Installation

A sculpture of a distorted human face on display outdoors, with a traditional building and green foliage in the background.

Commended

Deirdre Bean
Hay #2 Still LIFE,  Painting

Large rectangular hay bale on a table with a landscape background.

Commended

Suxuan Jiang
Micro-Nano Landscape,  Video

Black and white collage of three different water fountain images: the first depicts a water fountain with rocks in the background, the second shows a water jet in mid-air creating a spray, and the third is a close-up of a water stream with ripples.

The Inaugural ACAR Art Prize

Finalists

Aixiao Li

Angela Malone

Angus Nivison

Baohua Li

Belinda Fox

Charlie Sheard

Chloe So

Christopher Hodges

Dapeng Liu

David Collins

Deirdre Bean

Deqing Zhang

Dongwang Fan

Euan Macleod

Hong Tong

Hongsheng Zhao

Huiyi Xiao

Janet Laurence

Jenna Lee

Jesse Dayan

Jessica Bradford

Jiaqin Zhang

Jinlong Xu

Joe Furlonger

John R Walker

Jun Chen

Ju-shih Li

Juz Kitson

Leon Zhan

Lin Pan

Lindy Lee

Linlin Li

Martin Claydon

Michelle Hungerford

Naomi Hobson

Peter Godwin

Ping Chen

Qingyan Hu

Rainbow Chan

Rosemary Lee

Shaomin Shen

Shuran Zhang

Site Meng

Siying Zhou

Sonia Martignon

Susan Hipgrave

Suxuan Jiang

Tianli Zu

Tim Allen

Xiangjie Wang

Xiaomin Mina Zhang

Xiaoping Zhou

Xiaoxue Zhang

Xifa Yang

Xin Cang

Xue Geng

Yongji Shen

Yongliang Yang

Yu Cao

Zheng Wang

Ziyao Sun

Ziyuan Shi

ACAR Art Prize Exhibition

18 April - 1 August 2026

ACAR ARTS CENTRE

62 Atchison St, St Leonards, NSW 2065

Wednesday: by appointment only
Thursday - Friday: 11am - 4pm
Saturday: 11am-3pm

Closed on Public Holidays

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  • The prize celebrates landscape in its broadest interpretation – encompassing natural environments, built spaces, urban landscapes, and conceptual interpretations of place. We encourage artists to explore how their experience of each others’  culture influences their understanding and representation of landscape.

    By reimagining the landscape — in all its meanings — the ACAR Art Prize provides a platform for artists to share their vision, showcase their talent, and gain recognition on both a national and international stage.

  • The ACAR Art Prize offers four awards:

    • ACAR Art Prize (acquisitive)— AUD $100,000

    • Super Nova Award — AUD $5,000 (artists under 30) supported by BlackDiamondz

    • Digital Art Award — AUD $5,000 supported by BlackDiamondz

    • People’s Choice Award — AUD $5,000 supported by Stephen Fitzpatrick and Beatrice Rodriguez

    Winners will be chosen from the finalist exhibition in Sydney by an esteemed judging panel. The People’s Choice Award ensures the public’s voice plays an important role in the recognition of artistic talent.

    • Australian nationals who have spent time in China, or whose work demonstrates the influence of Chinese culture

    • Chinese nationals with a demonstrable connection to Australia

    • Artists may apply as individuals or as collectives

    The judging process includes online finalist selection followed by in-person evaluation of finalist works.

  • All finalists will be showcased in the ACAR Art Prize Exhibition in Sydney, offering valuable exposure to collectors, critics, and the public while celebrating the diversity of artistic practice across Australia and China. The winning work will be acquired into the ACAR permanent collection, joining a growing body of significant works and ensuring the artist’s vision becomes part of a lasting cultural legacy shared with audiences for years to come.

Judging Panel

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John McDonald

John McDonald is one of Australia’s most respected critics and commentators on art and cinema, best known for his decades as art critic for The Sydney Morning Herald. A former Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, he has acted as curator for numerous exhibitions at public and private galleries. He has also judged more art prizes than he can count, always striving to be as objective as possible. John writes about Australian and international art, movies and politics every week on his website: Everything the artworld doesn’t want you to know - ie. everythingthe.com.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing pink glasses, a black polka dot dress, and earrings, stands outdoors against a sandstone wall, smiling at the camera.

Dr Kristen Sharp

Dr Kristen Sharp is Director and CEO of the National Art School. She lives and works on Gadigal Country. She is also an Honorary Professor at RMIT University where she was previously the Associate Dean Discipline (Art). Kristen’s research includes contemporary Asian art, urban space, public art, and sound art. She co-curated Mutable Ecologies: Tracing Changing Environments and Phantasms for Future Ecologies. Kristen is co-author of Screen Ecologies: Art, Media and the Environment in the Asia-Pacific Region (MIT Press, 2016) and her chapter on Yuki Mohri will soon be published in Contemporary art and ecological transformation in East and Southeast Asia (Rethinking Art’s Histories, ed. Meiqin Wang, MUP).

A woman with short, wavy brown hair, wearing a black top, sunglasses hanging on her chest, and hoop earrings, standing in front of a black and white abstract painting in an art gallery, carrying a white handbag.

Prof SHAO Yiyang

Shao Yiyang(born 1970), is a professor of Art history and Theory, deputy chair of School of Humanities at Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, member of Chinese CIHA executive committee. She received her Ph.D in 2003 from Art history and Theory Department in University of Sydney. The topic of her thesis is Chinese art institution and modern Art from 1980 to 2000. Since 2004, she has been teaching at Art History Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Her research focuses modern/contemporary art &theory. Shao Yiyang was Shao Yiyang was Chair of a session in CIHA Congress in Beijing (2016). She presented papers on Chinese modern art at the 32nd CIHA Congress in Melbourne (2008), 33rd CIHA Congress in Nuremburg (2012), and the 29th art history conference organized by Verband deutscher Kunsthistoriker (Association of German Art Historians) in Regensburg, 2007. She was a participant of the CAA-Getty International Program in 2015 and 2017.

Her publication in Chinese including books such as Global Perspective in Contemporary Art (2019 Jan), 20th modern &Contemporary Art (2018), Beyond Postmodern (2012), Art after Postmodern (2008),. Her essay published in English including “Whither Art History?”, Art Bulletin, June, 2016. “Infinite Social Landscape”, in Ulrich GroBmann and Petra Krutisch, ed., The Challenge of the Object, 33rd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, Congress Proceedings, Part 3, German National Museum, Nuremberg, 2013.“The International Identity of Chinese Art：Theoretical Debates on Chinese Contemporary Art in the 1990s”in Jason C.Kuo ed，Contemporary Chinese Art and Film，Theory Applied and Resisted. New Academia Publishing,2013. “Chinese Art and Education in 1980-1990s”, (translated into German), in Peter J. Schneemann und Wolfgang Brückle(Hg.) Kunstausbildung, Aneignung und Vermittlungkünstlerischer Kompetenz , Vereinigung der Kunsthistorikerinnen und Kunsthistoriker in der Schweiz, Bern, München 2009. “Why Realism?” in Anderson, Jaynie(ed), Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration and Convergence: The Proceedings of the 32nd International Congress of the History of Art (Comite International d'Histoire de l'Art, CIHA) The University of Melbourne, 2008