Finalists announced for 2026 National Photography Prize
Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) announces 12 contemporary artists who have been selected as finalists for Australia's longest running photography prize.
LIST OF FINALISTS
- Alana Hunt
- Alex Walker
- Amalia Lindo
- Arlo Mountford
- David Stephenson
- JD Reforma
- Lisa Stonham
- Marian Tubbs
- Morgan Hogg
- Nathanael Edwards
- Paul Knight
- Sarah Rhodes
The finalist works will be presented in an exhibition at MAMA, unveiled with the winning bodies of work announced at the opening on Saturday 8 August 2026.
Established in 1983, the biennial acquisitive prize offers a unique opportunity to consider the vital role of photography in contemporary art in Australia. Supported by the MAMA Art Foundation the National Photography Prize brings together artists from across Australia who are pushing the boundaries of photographic practice, expanding and developing existing languages and techniques.
The 2026 National Photography Prize finalists include leading Australian artists Alana Hunt, Alex Walker, Amalia Lindo, Arlo Mountford, David Stephenson, JD Reforma, Lisa Stonham, Marian Tubbs, Morgan Hogg, Nathanael Edwards, Paul Knight, and Sarah Rhodes. This group of artists was selected from over 300 entries by a curatorial panel comprising Ellen Dahl, 2024 National Photography Prize recipient; Alinta Maguire, First Nations Curator, Murray Art Museum Albury; and Blair French, CEO, Murray Art Museum Albury. Judge for both the $40,000 acquisitive Audray Banfield Award and $5,000 John and Margaret Baker Memorial Fellowship for an emerging artist will be Natasha Bullock, Senior Curator, Photography, National Gallery of Victoria.
The 2026 finalists’ works traverse numerous themes and concepts including the environment and its degradation, family histories, memory, intimacy, connection to place and cultural identity as well as spanning diverse photographic practices from camera-less darkroom investigations through to large format analogue photographs, moving-imagery, lenticular photographs, archives, installations and experiments with AI. The participating artists are drawn nationally from as far from Albury, home of the National Photography Prize, as northern Queensland and Tasmania.
“It has been a privilege to review the extensive range of photographic and lens-based work submitted for the 2026 National Photography Prize. Extraordinary work continues to be made by artists right across the country drawing on photographic history as well as looking to the future through new experiments with technology. The 2026 National Photography Prize exhibition builds on the rich history of the prize and the development of MAMA as a nationally significant centre for photographic practice as envisioned by founding Albury Regional Art Gallery Director Audray Banfield AM who the prize now honours.”