Entries open 15 October 2026 – 11 January 2027
OCTOBER 2026: Emerging and established artists from across Australia are invited to enter the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award, with entries opening 15 October 2026. Now in its 48th year, the biennale award continues the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre’s long-standing commitment to celebrating the breadth, innovation and diversity of contemporary printmaking in Australia.
Entries open 15 October 2026 and close 11 January 2027, with the selected works to be presented in a major exhibition at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre from 30 April to 1 August 2027.
The award offers a $30,000 prize pool, with the First Prize awarding $20,000, alongside the $5,000 First Nations Print Prize and $5,000 Young Emerging Print Prize.
A panel of nationally acclaimed artists, academics and arts professionals will judge the award, with entries encouraged from artists working across the expansive and evolving field of printmaking.
From traditional techniques to experimental and emerging approaches, the award welcomes works that challenge and expand ideas around what a print can be. Entries may include, but are not limited to, etching, lino and woodcut, screen and digital printing, textile-based processes, artist books, 3D and other innovative printmaking practices.
Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Curator & Collections Lead Abigail Moncrieff said the award provided an important platform for artists working across Australia.
“The Print Award has a remarkable history of reflecting the changing landscape of printmaking in Australia, while continuing to provide artists with an opportunity to experiment, take risks and push the medium in new directions.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the breadth of work submitted for the 2026/27 award and to bringing together artists from across Australia for the exhibition at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre in 2027.”
Recent editions of the award have showcased the breadth of contemporary printmaking and the ways artists are using print to explore culture, place, materiality, labour and connection.
In 2025, Prita Tina Yeganeh was awarded the $20,000 First Prize for My Soil Farsh فرش (The Sacred Shared Labour), 2025. The acquisitive work brings together installation, printmaking and participatory practice to explore migration, heritage and collective labour.
Created over more than 145 hours, the work involved 17 women hand-grinding 45 kilograms of red clay soil from Queensland, selected to echo the soil of Yeganeh’s Iranian homeland. The shared process was documented through 30 3D-printed motifs, which were hand-imprinted in symmetrical patterns to record the participants’ collective experience.
Yeganeh’s work joins a diverse history of artists using innovative processes and materials to expand the possibilities of print. Previous exhibition highlights include Jacky Cheng’s Yue Lao – God of Matchmaking and Marriage, created from recycled Chinese calendar papers; Jay Staples and Stephen Brameld’s Forest, a Merbau tannin timber-to-fabric transfer on canvas; and Kieren Karritpul’s Traditional Fish Basket, a collagraph print.
All exhibited artworks are available for sale, with the First Prize-winning work acquired for the City of Fremantle Art Collection, the largest municipal art collection in Western Australia.
Entries open 15 October 2026 and close 11 January 2027.
The 48th Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award exhibition will be presented from 30 April – 1 August 2027 at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre.
For entry information and full conditions, visit:
Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre
ENDS
MEDIA CONTACT
Ella Boekeman | Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre | ellabo@fremantle.wa.gov.au
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
• The First Nations Print Prize is supported by Wesfarmers Arts.
• The Young Emerging Print Prize is supported by Fremantle Community Bank.
ABOUT THE PRINT AWARD
The Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award was founded in 1976, just a few years after the establishment of Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre. The prize was initiated by Ian Templeman as a way of attracting interstate artists and audiences to the young gallery.
Now in its 48th year, the Print Award is Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre’s longest-running exhibition series and one of Australia’s major print awards. The award attracts entries from established and emerging artists from across Australia and celebrates the diverse and continually evolving possibilities of contemporary printmaking.
