The Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award is an acquisitive biennale exhibition that will return in August 2025.
In its 47th year, Australia’s longest running and largest print award has announced a boost to its prize pool as it opens submissions nationally to emerging and established artists.
Abigail Moncrieff, who’s been the Curatorial and Collections Lead at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre for the last 10 months, is excited at the prize pool boost to $30,000. (The winner will receive $20,000, while First Nations and Young Emerging artists will each receive $5000.)
Despite her relatively short tenure so far at the Centre, Moncrieff has had a long curatorial career, telling ArtsHub she’s worked for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Biennale of Sydney and Carriageworks, as well as working independently and curating in regional organisations such as Murray Art Museum Albury.
She’s now happy to return to her hometown of Perth to contribute to WA’s cultural life, in particular overseeing the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award. “It’s Australia’s premier acquisitive exhibition of work using any printing process and presents the best work from established, emerging and cross-disciplinary artists living in Australia aged 16 years and older,” she says.
“We have restructured the prizes and award money in 2025, so as to make it attractive for artists to enter. The award is open to all artists living and working within Australia, aged 16 or older as of 1 June 2025. Each artist is invited to submit only one artwork for the competition and an important condition is that it must be created using any printing process,” she says.
“Works in multiple parts are acceptable, but they must be considered as a single artwork.”
The shortlisted works of the Walyalup Fremantle Print Award will be displayed across the galleries at the Arts Centre. “It is a really well-loved and attended exhibition that is central to our calendar here at Walyalup/Fremantle. In 2023 we exhibited over 55 works from artists. We’re hoping to display even more works from finalists in 2025!” says the curator.
Moncrieff won’t be on the judging panel herself, she tells ArtsHub, as all three judges will be recruited externally and announced early next month.
For further information, Moncrieff directs potential entrants to look at the FAQs on the website and to complete an online form and provide digital images of their submission and the entry fee.
Does she have any general tips for those planning to submit their works?
“We encourage artists to think broadly about this opportunity and enter! Judges will be looking for a diverse selection of prints and artist books that challenge what printmaking is in its many forms – from small to large-scale across a range of innovative and emerging methods.”
The Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award entries are now open, with entries closing on 2 June 2025 and the shortlisted works to be exhibited at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre 16 August to 21 September. The winner will be announced on opening night, 15 August 2025.
