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This week’s opportunities
Awards and competitions
This award is presented by the First Nations Writers Festival, which will recognise two writers from each region with a prize package of up to $5000: Australia, Torres Strait Islands, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Papua and the islands within Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Completed but unpublished book manuscripts of various genres may be submitted, as well as short stories between 5000 and 9000 words for awards of $200 to $500.
EOIs for book manuscripts close 28 February and submissions for short stories close 30 March; learn more and apply.
ONE OF ONE x Warner Music Innovator Award includes a $2000 cash prize for women and gender non-conforming individuals in the Australian music industry, celebrating those who have made significant strides in music marketing, management, A&R and production.
Applications close 10 March; learn more and apply.
The annual Omnia Art Prize and Exhibition returns with the introduction of a new small sculpture category ($5000) in addition to the $15,000 major prize. Artists are invited to submit up to three works in any medium, and have the opportunity for their works to be exhibited and sold.
Submissions close 14 March; learn more and submit.
National Indigenous Fashion Awards 2025 (NT)
Nominations are open for the National Indigenous Fashion Awards – anyone can make a nomination, including yourself. The National Indigenous Fashion Awards (aka NIFA), is a prestigious awards ceremony held on Larrakia Country each August, celebrating and recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in fashion and textiles.
Nominations close 17 March; learn more and nominate.
Women and gender diverse artist managers are invited to apply for the chance to receive a $5000 grant to support their business and professional pursuits.
Applications close 19 March; learn more and apply.
Australian Life photography competition (NSW)
Professional and amateur photographers are invited to showcase their work with a major $10,000 cash prize and $2000 for the winner under 18. Out of the hundreds of entries expected, a panel of expert judges will select 20 images from photographers over 18 and 10 pictures from snappers aged 12 to 17. The shortlisted photographs will be on display in an outdoor exhibition at Circular Quay from 24 July to 17 August. Photographs must have been taken in the past 12 months and AI isn’t allowed to be used.
Entries close 2 April; learn more and enter.
Chapel Hill Horizons Art Prize (SA)
This $5000 acquisitive art prize invites South Australian artists to interpret the dual meaning of Horizon – both the physical line where the earth meets the sky and the symbolic concept of something that may be attained. Shortlisted works will be exhibited as part of 2025 South Australian Living Arts Festival (SALA).
Entries close 14 July; learn more and enter.
Grants and funding
Financial literacy grants for music businesses (Vic)
LEG UP is a new initiative from the Victorian Music Development Office that aims to increase financial literacy and competence among small-to-medium music businesses, comprising a grant stream and a consultation stream. Grants of up to $1000 and free one-hour consultations are available.
Applications close 3 March; learn more and apply.
Frankston festival and event grants (Vic)
Frankston City Council’s Destination Event Attraction Program provides funding to organisations to deliver high-quality festivals and events that build upon the City’s positioning as a creative destination.
Applications close 16 March; learn more and apply.
Regional artists, arts workers and organisations can apply for arts and cultural projects that encourage community participation and audience engagement from people living in regional and remote communities in a festival or significant one-off community celebration. Round 20 of Festivals Australia is now open for projects starting from 1 July 2025. Approximately $1.4 million is distributed through this program each financial year.
Applications close 18 March; learn more and apply.
Music Australia International Touring and Artistic Development Grants
Music Australia has just announced its international touring and artistic development grants for 2025. The grants have three separate funding streams: International Performance and Touring Activity ($5000-$25,000), International Professional and Artistic Development ($3000-$15,000) and International Market and Audience Development ($2000-$10,000).
Applications close 1 April; learn more and apply.
Call-outs
Out of Bounds 2025 (Vic)
EOIs are now open for this choreographic platform for artists to share works in progress, take risks and test ideas over one weekend at Dancehouse on 3 and 4 May 2025. Out of Bounds was originally devised by Lucy Guerin Inc and Temperance Hall, and this year is co-presented with Dancehouse.
EOIs close 12 March; learn more and apply.
Head On Photo Festival (NSW)
Submit your work to be considered for solo or group exhibitions in Head On Photo Festival 2025, which welcomes established and emerging photographers globally. The 2025 Festival will be a mix of online and in-person exhibitions and events across Sydney, Australia. Select exhibitions may also tour nationally and internationally.
Submissions close 23 March; learn more and submit.
North Australian Festival of Arts 2025 (Qld)
Artist applications are now open for NAFA’s 2025 Fringe program while they welcome a new chapter as an independently-run event. Fringe is open to artists worldwide and, while completed works are encouraged, NAFA also accept projects in development, provided with a detailed production plan and clear creative direction.
Applications close 30 March; learn more and apply.
Professional development
Seeding Storytellers (Online)
This is a note-taking training program for emerging First Nations screenwriters, supported by Screenrights Cultural Fund, and delivered by Screenworks in partnership with the Australian Writers’ Guild. Seeding Storytellers will be delivered to selected participants as a series of three day-long online workshops on 3, 10 and 17 May 2025.
Applications close 28 February; learn more and apply.
2025 ACE Studio Program residencies (SA)
South Australian artists are invited to apply for two opportunities at ACE: 2025–2026 ACE Annual Studio Program, a 12-month studio residency plus group exhibition at ACE; and 2025 ACE x firstdraft Short-term Residency, a three-month ACE studio residency plus exhibition at firstdraft, Sydney.
Applications close 7 April; learn more and apply.
Want more? Visit our Opportunities page for more open competitions, prizes, EOIs and call-outs.
This week’s winners
Performing arts
Glory Tuohy-Daniell has been awarded the 2025 Choreographic Lab by DirtyFeet dance company for her new work, The Chair. Tuohy-Daniell is a descendant of Indjalandji-Dhidhanu and Alyewarre Aboriginal peoples, from north-west Queensland and the Northern Territory now based in Western Sydney. The Chair explores how conversations have evolved from before invasion to now through movement and text, using different types of chairs as a central theme. Tuohy-Daniell will be working alongside a talented creative team, including dancers Brianna Kemmerling, Kiarn Doyle, Nicola Sabatino and Beau Dean Riley Smith, with mentor Vicki Van Hout.
Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre (BREC) awarded two life memberships in the past week. One to Robyn McCarron, who joined the BREC Board in 1997 and focused on cultural development at the regional arts venue at the time. She wrote a doctoral thesis ‘Performing Arts in Regional Communities: The Case of Bunbury WA’ (2004) and helped develop Bunbury’s cultural capital in her 17-year term. Former BREC Board Chair Simon Jacob was also awarded life membership. His service spanned more than 20 years and developed a deep understanding of the diversity of roles BREC is asked to play. Highlights of his time on the Board include the opening of The Cube and Wellington Suite, and the shift from a one- to five-year Management Agreement with the City of Bunbury.
Danish Sheikh has taken home the 2025 Queer Playwriting Award with Much to do with Law, but more to do with Love, a lecture-performance that intertwines a queer lawyer’s story of growing up as an unapprehended felon in India, with the legal battle to decriminalise homosexuality in the country. “I wrote this show as a tribute to the ways queer Indian dissenters have shaped the law – not just by resisting it, but by remaking it through acts of defiant love. I’m deeply grateful to midsumma and Gasworks for giving me a platform to share these stories with Australian audiences and to explore the enchantment and hope we can find in law and politics,” says Sheikh. Sheikh also thanked his director Vidya Rajan and the support of La Trobe University and the City of Melbourne.
Writing and publishing
Winner of the 2025 Peter Porter Poetry Prize is Meredith Stricker for her poem, ‘The Vastness of What Poetry Can Do’. The judges comment was: “That this is the most expansive poem on the shortlist seems inevitable, given its titular subject. The five eclectic epigraphs (beginning with Wallace Stevens, who might have conceived the title), and the references throughout, hint at the poet’s impressive range of influences, but this spacious and elegant poem – ‘stubborn, forlorn, resplendent’ – is entirely individual and original.” Stricker takes home a slice of the $10,000 prize pool, and says the win is “like a counterforce to dark news”. She continues, “What I love is how it affirms the poets that I write alongside as we step into the unknown with our divergent voices, risks, mistakes, wildness, unexpected acts of solidarity and communion. I am immensely grateful to Australian Book Review and its many supporters and readers for the depth of response and respect given to the poems they receive.” Read the 2025 shortlisted poems.
Shortlisted and finalists
The Vanda & Young Global Song Competition has unveiled the 2024 Top 50 Finalists, selected for their songwriting, originality, emotional depth and technical mastery. Named in honour of songwriters Vanda & Young, this year’s competition attracted over 3500 songs from 52 countries, with entry fees directly supporting Noro Music Therapy. The overall winner will be awarded $50,000, with a total prize pool of $80,000 to be distributed among 15 songs. Find the full list of finalists.
Check out previous Opportunities and Awards wraps for more announcements.
