2025 CHRC Annual Art Awards - Emerald

Central Highlands Regional Council's Annual Art Awards – Emerald is the Emerald Art Gallery’s premier art event. It attracts local and national artists and is held in August each year.

Established and emerging artists of all ages can submit entries in up to seven categories. From easel, paper-based and three-dimensional works to photography and digital art, each adult category comes with a $750 prize for first and $250 prize for second place. Youth categories include Juvenile (13-18 years) and Junior (12 years and under) with a first prize of $150 and second prize of $50 awarded for both categories.

Each year, the judge awards the prestigious Central Highlands Regional Council Acquisitive Award worth $4,000 to the most outstanding artwork from categories one to five. We are excited to announce that this year's judge is Professor Elisabeth Findlay.

The announcement of the category award winners will be presented at the Exhibition opening night at the Emerald Art Gallery on Friday 1 August 2025.

People's Choice Award

Voting is now open to nominate your favorite entry for the People's Choice Award. The award recipient will be awarded $250 in prize money.

Voting for the People's Choice Award will take place online this year. Voting will be open from Friday 1 August until midnight on Sunday 17 August 2025.

How to vote:

1. View each entry on the image gallery on the right (or on the bottom of the page on a mobile device)

2. Vote for your favorite entry on the form below - you will be prompted to enter a screen name and email address
Note: You may only vote once.

The recipient of the People's Choice Award will be announced on Tuesday 19 August at 5.00pm on the Central Highlands Regional Galleries Facebook Page(External link).

For enquiries about the voting process or the exhibition, please contact the Arts and Cultural team at council on 1300 242 686 or by emailing chgalleries@chrc.qld.gov.au(External link).