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.
The Inaugural ACAR Art Prize
2025 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
The winners will be announced in April 2026. The exhibition details will be released soon.
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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.
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 & Beatrice Rodriguez
Entry opens on 28 September 2025 0:00 (GMT+10)
Entry closes on 18 December 2025 at 23:59 (GMT+10)
Successful entrants will be notified on 8 January 2026
Awards presentation ceremony: in Sydney, date to be announced in 2026
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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.
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).
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