The Galah Regional Photography Prize signals just how serious we are about supporting artists who call regional Australia home.
"It's a strong set," said judge and photographer Adam Ferguson, beaming in from a pub at Bermagui, at the end of a several hour long video call during which he and four other judges chose – somehow – 42 finalists from the 1100 entries in the 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize.
It was a heartbreaking proposition, to whittle down so many entries to just 42. It was meant to be 40, but losing those final two felt impossible.
I wasn't a judge, but I was the host, and in charge of pressing the button to remove each image from the final selection. If there is a type of PTSD linked to repeatedly having to kill your darlings, I think I have it.
But here we are now with, as Ferguson says, a very strong set of photographs from regional Australia for this year's $27,000 Galah Regional Photography Prize, Australia's richest photography prize for regional artists.
42 outstanding images made by 37 regional photographers, including a psychiatric nurse in Bendigo, a portrait photographer from the Pilbara, a newspaper photographer from Newcastle, an artist from the Northern Rivers, an amateur photographer who lives in Far North Qld, working as a doctor for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The breadth of photographers and where they call home is as wide as the work they created.
This collection of work will be presented at the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale, NSW, in an eight week exhibition from 11 April to 8 June 2025. The winning works will be announced at an exhibition party at NERAM on Friday 2 May 2025.
The driving force behind this biennial prize is to shine a light on the talent that exists in regional Australia. And to promote the artists behind it.
Regional Australia is so much stronger for having diverse, creative communities. We want artists to live in our regional communities, to tell our stories, to make beautiful art, to create the cool factor that might draw other people into the town –like doctors or teachers and other people we are crying out for.
This prize – and its significant prizemoney – signals just how serious we are about supporting artists who call regional Australia home.
Thank you to the Burton Taylor Foundation for being the major donor behind our prizemoney. They already do such great work through the Country Education Foundation charity and it's so generous of them to support our photography prize too.
Congratulations to the 2025 finalists. And many thanks to all the photographers who entered the 2025 prize.
See you at the party to announce the winners. And please note, we've changed the party date from Saturday 3 May to Friday 2 May 2025. Sorry if we've mucked you around with the change.
Ps, we're moments away from announcing an Issue 12 launch event on Saturday, April 5 at Moonacres Farm in Robertson, NSW. More information and a link to book tockets will be sent to our print magazine subscribers next week. Print subscribers get first dibs on tickets. If you're not already a print subscriber, perhaps you should be.
As part of the 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize exhibition, we'll award a $2000 People's Choice prize to one photograph.
Please vote for your favourite image (or images) from the 42 finalists. Just head here and select "add submission" to cast your vote. You can add multiple submissions, that is to say, you can pick more than one photograph.
Thanks to our 2025 Galah Regional Photography Prize partners Country Education Foundation, NERAM, Visit Armidale, Good Weekend, Reggie–by FOUND Regional and the Australian Cultural Fund.
