The Lester Prize for Portraiture 2023

Medium / category: Portraiture

Requirements: Entrants must submit a work which is depicts a portrait of a sitter, executed in (but not restricted to) oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel, textile, pencil, charcoal, ink or mixed media (works of sculpture, photography, or digital media are not eligible)

Eligibility: Artists must an Australian Resident of 18 years or older

Associated institutions: The Art Gallery of Western Australia

Exhibition dates: Awards Exhibition: 22 September – 26 November 2023

The Lester Prize is managed by The Lester Inc, a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2007 to provide an avenue for artists to exhibit works of portraiture within Western Australia. Working with government, peak arts bodies and community groups, it helps to diversify WA’s local economy, grow cultural tourism, and activate spaces through creative placemaking. The Lester Prize provides locals and visitors with the opportunity to engage with the artform each year in a format that puts the artists and community front-and-centre. The Lester Prize’s exhibitions and public events program is targeted at diverse groups in the community and includes artist floor talks, workshops, live art demonstrations and pop-up community activations across the city.

Awards

The Lester Prize pool includes $50,000 cash, $15,000 Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize (selected by artists’ peers), the $10,000 People’s Choice Prize kindly donated by the Baldock Family (selected by the general public), the $10,000 Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize (selected by the Minderoo Foundation), the $5,000 Ashhurst Emerging Artist prize (selected by our judges), $5,000 Barton Family Foundation Installers’ Prize (chosen by AGWA installers) and two Highly Commended Prizes which will be awarded $2,000 cash, a $550 domestic art transport voucher, $500 framing voucher and $250 art supplies voucher each.

Previous Judges

2022:

  • Dr Clarissa Ball, Director of the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies
  • Amy Barrett-Lennard, Director of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA)
  • Linton Partington, Founding Director of Linton & Kay Galleries
  • Bahar Sayed, Curatorial Assistant at AGWA
  • Tyrown Waigana, artist and designer
Previous Winners and Finalists

2022:

  • Sophia Alone, Respect Grandfather Kutri Makanykarra

Winner: Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize/ Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture

  • Greg Creek, Diecast-speech painting (picture of David Sequeira)

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize

  • Adrian Lazzaro, Self Portrait

Winner: Barton Family Foundation Installers’ Prize

  • Sarah Anthony, Breathe

Winner: Baldock Family People’s Choice

  • Julia Donney, Smoko

Winner: Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize

  • Mark Chu, Here in Spirit

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Nicholas Hopwood, Quest

Winner: Highly commended

2021:

  • Emily Song, 饺子 (dumplings)

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize/ Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize

  • Sidney Tapia, Through you

Winner: Installers’ Prize/ Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture

  • Illyampi Victor Burton, Mamu

Winner: Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize

  • Desiree Crossing, The night commute

Winner: Baldock Family People’s Choice

  • Narelle Zeller, Brave new worker

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Sally Ryan, Never again

Winner: Highly Commended

2020:

  • Serena Cowie, The conversation

Winner: Lester Group Prize

  • Sebastian Galloway, Warm air, cool light

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize

  • Stacey Evangelou, Warrior by spirit

Winner: Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize Winner

  • Jess Le Clerc, Shadow and bloom

Winner: People’s Choice Award Winner donated by the Baldock Family

  • Kierah Falkner Babbel, Race car ya ya

Winner: Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize Winner

  • Daevid Anderson, The dying slave – study

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Joshua Cocking, Making plants – a portrait of Franque

Winner: Highly Commended

2019:

  • Liam Nunan, Jonny Hawkins

Winner: Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture

  • Lori Pensini, Banksia grandis—love begets love

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize

  • Jordan Andreotta, Sr Flora

Winner: Baldock Family People’s Choice Prize

  • Jeff Bryant, Lazarus

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Nicole O’Loughlin, The artist Mother is present

Winner: Highly Commended

2018:

  • Antoinette Barbouttis, Alexandra

Winner: Lester Group Prize

  • Benjamin Aitken, Jack

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist

  • Jaq Grantford, Just An Old Drag Queen

Winner: Baldock Family People’s Choice Prize

  • Ruth Leigh, May Wokka Chapman

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Peter Wegner, Medicated Man Portrait Of G.D.

Winner: Highly Commended

2017:

  • Jana Vodesil-Baruffi, Black Swan

Winner: Lester Group Prize

  • Marie Mansfield, Mertim

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize

  • Nick Stathopoulos, Deng

Winner: Baldock Family People’s Choice Prize​

  • Effie Pryer, Emily Saal

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Natasha Walsh, Natasha Walsh (Self-Portrait)

Winner: Highly Commended

2016:

  • Rachel Coad, Indian Summer

Winner: Lester Group Prize

  • Mark Tweedie, It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This

Winner: Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize

  • Tom Macbeth, The Trailblazer

Winner: Amana Living People’s Choice Prize

  • Daniel Smith, Thinking Of You, Shakespeare

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Kate Kurucz, Dad and Clams

Winner: Highly Commended

2015:

  • Marcus Callum, Wrecking Ball

Winner: Lester Group Prize

  • Jodi Daley, Carving New Life Into My Country

Winner: People’s Choice Prize

  • Jandamarra Cadd, Storyteller

Winner: St John of God Health Care Online Voting

  • Jerome Davenport, Nic

Winner: H.U. Kendall & Co Art Gift Voucher

  • Olivia Samec, Ernst Samec, Architect, Migrant Survivor

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Joshua Cocking, Dinner Lament (Three Self Portraits)

Winner: Highly Commended

2014:

  • Iain Dean, Pilar Mata Dupont

Winner: Lester Group Prize

  • Joel Rea, Chris Hemsworth

Winner: St John of God Health Care People’s Choice Prize

  • Andrew Bonneau, David Wearing Yukata

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Benjamin Aitken, Stefan

Winner: Highly Commended

  • Claire Bridge, Sanctuary

Winner: Highly Commended

For Artists

What you need to know

The Artist must be aged 18 years or over and an Australian Resident as at 5.00pm (AWST) on the Closing Date. For the avoidance of any doubt, the Artist may comprise one or more persons, all of whom must be Australian Residents aged 18 years or over.

If the Portrait is a result of an artistic collaboration, all co-creators must be named as Artists in the Entry Form.

Employees of The Lester and the Partners, and employees or immediate families of The Lester Judges or the Minderoo Judges and each of their respective agents, cannot enter the Prize.

Dates for your diary

Open for Entries: Entries are open now and close 9 July 2023

To enter, simply head to the Lester Prize website and fill out an entry form with a photograph of your portrait.

For more information, visit the prize’s website here, or check out their socials on Facebook or Instagram.

Feature Image Credit:

Sophia Alone, Respect Grandfather Kutri Makanykarra, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 44.5 x 44.5 cm. Courtesy: the artist and the Lester Prize.

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