Blake Prize

Applications Closed | 1471 views in last 12 months
Applications close
17 November 2025
Announced
1 May 2026
Prize money
AUD $52,000
Location
NSW, Australia
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Blake Prize

Exhibitis on Biennial Even Years

The Blake Prize for Religious Art awards $35,000 to the work that the judges consider the best contemporary religious work submitted. There is also an award of $5000 to the winner of the John Coburn Emerging Artist and the MUA Blake Prize for Human Justice, also to the value of $5,000.

The prize was founded in 1949 by a Blake Society committee in Sydney consisting of clergy, artists and laymen drawn from a variety of religious groups who desired to bring about a closer cooperation between church and artist in the modern world. The name Blake was chosen because William Blake as an artist of undoubted genius seemed to belong to no school and succeeded in integrating the religious and artistic content in his work. The Blake Society hoped to encourage artists of disparate styles and religious allegiances to create significant works of art with religious content. Today its members hope to stimulate the interaction of ideas and spiritual thought in contemporary Australian art.

 

Prizes

  • Winner (non-acquisitive) - $35,000
  • Blake Acquistive - $10,000
  • Next Generation Scholarship (non-acquisitive) - $5,000
  • People's Choice (non-acquisitive) - $2,000

Venue: Casula Powerhouse Art Centre, 1 Powerhouse Road, Casula NSW 2170

Contact Information: for more information email theblakeprize@liverpool.nsw.gov.au or call 02 9824 1121

Summary
Application dates
15 September 2025 - 17 November 2025
Exhibition dates
2 May 2026 - 14 June 2026
Finalists notified
19 February 2026
Eligibility
National and International Entries Allowed
Prize frequency
Biennial - Even Years
Judges
Claudia Nicholson, Visual Artist; Chris Fleming, Associate Professor in Humanities at Western Sydney University; Tess Allas, Independent Curator.
Prize genre
Religious
Location
Casula Powerhouse Art Centre, Casula, NSW
NSW
Australia
Prizes
AUD $52,000
Fees
$50 for one work, 2 for $90 and 30% commission on sales
Last updated
5 March 2026
Prior Winners
2024: Shireen Taweel - Winner ($35,000)
2024: Tina Stefanou - Emerging Artist Prize ($6,000)
2018: Tina Havelock Stevens - Winner ($35,000)
2016: Yardena Kurulkar - Winner ($35,000)