Australia’s longest-running art prize, the $50,000 Wayne Prize is the only prize collectors care about This Story by Art Writer Linda Morris.
First presented in 1897 to mark the official opening of the Art Gallery (then the National Gallery, not the Art Gallery of New South Wales), the award is awarded to the best landscape painting in Australian landscape or figurative sculpture.
The Wayne Awards opened the door for artist Julianne Ross Allcorn.Credit: steven sievert
This year there were 726 entries for the awards – across all three categories – including the Suleman Prize and the Archibald Prize, with 38 Aboriginal finalists, the most known in the exhibition’s history.
Now, for the first time in its esteemed 125-year history, this year’s Wynne’s winners and finalists will tour regional NSW, bringing their landscapes and sculptures to the region from which they were inspired.
