by Rosemary Warmington, AM
The next fortnight marks the culmination of the 2025 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize.
Finalists will attend a Lord Mayoral reception at the Town Hall next Wednesday, March 19, to celebrate their artistic contributions to the City of Adelaide.
Behind the scenes, our volunteer committee has been busy preparing for the upcoming celebrations. Our curatorial team has been at the Adelaide Festival Centre Gallery measuring the site for the installation of 89 finalist artworks due to arrive on March 24th.
It’s a fabulous space, and we are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the artworks.
The installation will take place over four days, after which the five judges will view the works and make their determinations.
The judging panel for the 2025 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize. From top left:
Andrew Purvis, an accomplished artist and curator Adelaide Central School of Arts
Doreen Mellor: a Ngadjan woman, with extensive experience working with First Nations creatives as a curator, writer, and arts administrator
Emma Fey: recently (until 31 January) Acting Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia
Erica Green: Director of Samtag Museum and with a deep understanding of contemporary art
Liam Fleming: a distinguished glass artist
The winners of $40,000 in prize money, including the $20,000 main prize winner, will be announced at an invitation-only event for finalists, donors, and sponsors on Tuesday, April 1.
One final prize of $2,500 (the Royal Adelaide Show “People’s Choice” prize) will be announced at the end of the exhibition, after your “People’s Choice” votes have been counted. That will bring total prizemoney awarded to $42,500.
In addition to the above categories, there will be two additional “Judge’s Commendation” prizes of $2,500 announced on 1 April.
All finalists' artworks will be on display at the Adelaide Festival Theatre Gallery from April 2nd to 29th.
The gallery is open to the public during event times and on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am to 3 pm. All works will be available for purchase.
If you can’t get to the gallery during those opening times, there will be an alternative viewing option available, from 2 April. For the first time, you will also be able to remotely browse all works in a 3D augmented reality version of the Festival Centre’s gallery, thanks to Michael Petros, of ABM visual.
The Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize is made possible through the generosity of these sponsors and donors.
How we got here
The Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize is a biennial event that has been running since 2014.
This 2025 exhibition is the sixth edition. You can review the history of this event, including images from past prize winners and finalists, on our website.
Entries for the 2025 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize closed on January 31, 2025, and more than 300 entries were received. This 2025 exhibition is the sixth edition. You can review the history of this event, including imagery from past prize winners, and past finalists:
