SALA Awards & Opportunities
Find current and upcoming awards and opportunities here. Some are open to South Australian artists, and some are exclusive to artists & venues that are registered for the 2026 SALA Festival.
Check out the finalists and winners for the 2025 SALA Awards on our Finalists & Winners page, or check out our archive of winners from past years.
SALA Solo Opportunity
The SALA SOLO opportunity aims to support a South Australian photographic artist to produce new work for exhibition during SALA Festival 2026.
Applications open: 10 December 2025 – 12pm Friday 30 January 2026 (12noon)
- Atkins Lab: In-kind prize of production of artwork (printing and mounting, as well as consulting with Paul Atkins) to the value of $5,500
- Centre for Creative Photography: In-kind prize of 1on1 tuition/mentorship with Gavin Blake (Director) for up to 6 months duration (at agreed time between February-August 2026) to the value of $3,500
- Praxis Artspace: In-kind prize of front exhibition space at Praxis Artspace during August 2026 plus curatorial assistance
- SALA Festival: Complimentary premium registration for the 2026 SALA Festival.
To apply for this opportunity, please create a 2-3 page PDF document (max size 10 MB – for digital viewing only) addressing the points below, and submit it to SALA Festival via this direct upload link.
- Proposal of what the new work will be (material, size, content/subject matter, installation, etc)
- How it is ‘new’ to the applicant. (a new method, material, thematic direction, scale, etc)
- Three example images of the intended direction of the exhibition
- A statement of what the work is about (ie. its story or message)
- A rough indication of how the space (the front gallery at Praxis Artspace) will be utilised.
Applicants may use multimedia or sculpture to support the presentation of the work. - Your details: Your name, your artist name/alias, phone number, email address, postal address (and residential postcode if different). Website optional. Please include a statement that you have read and agree to the Terms & Conditions.
The eligibility for this opportunity has changed since previous years, and is now open to all South Australian photographic artists.
- 10 December 2025 / applications open
- Friday 20 January 2026 / applications close (12pm (noon)
- February 2026 / winning recipient determined and announced
- August 2026 / new body of work exhibited as part of SALA Festival 2026.
Click here to view/download the full Terms & Conditions as a PDF. By applying for this opportunity, you warrant that you have read and agree to these terms.
The eligibility for this opportunity has changed since previous years, and is now open to all South Australian photographic artists.
10 December 2025 / applications open
Friday 20 January 2026 / applications close (12pm (noon)
February 2026 / winning recipient determined and announced
August 2026 / new body of work exhibited as part of SALA Festival 2026.
The application form will ask for:
- Registration ID number for the SALA exhibition/event where you will have photographic artwork on display. (eg R1235)
- 3-5 images of your photographic artwork that will be exhibited this year.
- a written response to the following:
Please use this text field to tell the judges about yourself as an artist, including what kind of photographic processes you use (eg. wet-plate, medium format film, digital, polaroid) and what inspires your work.
Please describe what your participation in this year’s SALA Festival will be (are you taking part in a group show, a solo show, etc). Please explain your goals/next steps in your artistic journey, and how valuable and/or timely this opportunity would be for you.
If you have any ideas around what you would like to do/present for your SALA exhibition NEXT year (if selected as the recipient), please include them here. If your ideas are different to the work you are exhibiting in SALA this year, please make clear note of this – and provide a link on the following page to images/support material that will help the judges to get a sense of your vision. If there are any other mediums that you would be interested in working in to enhance the exhibition experience (eg. soundscapes) please make note of this.
- a link to further support material (optional)
EXCLUSIVE AWARDS & OPPORTUNITIES
2026 SALA Awards information is coming soon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Click the ‘+’ symbol to expand and see the answer.
1 March / Award opens for applications
Wed 14 May / Festival registrations close
Wed 21 May / Award applications close 11:59pm
Late July / finalists announced
August / judging occurs during the Festival
September / winner announced
In most cases, you can apply for Awards via an award application form in the SALA Online Portal.
Artists should complete their own applications for the SALA Awards & Opportunities where possible.
Some awards carry obligations (such as delivering an artist talk), and so ‘nominating’ an artist without their full comprehension and acceptance of the award Terms & Conditions is not permitted.
However, supporting an artist to make their own application (knowing that they are able to fulfill the Terms & Conditions if they are successful) is perfectly fine. In this instance, we recommend using the artists’ own words wherever possible, as this tends to benefit the application during the judging process.
Most SALA Awards are exclusively open to artists and venues that are participating in a registered SALA exhibition/event, but each has different criteria -and some are tied to an outcome- so it’s important to read up on each award or opportunity before applying.
Artists should complete their own applications for the SALA Awards & Opportunities where possible for two reasons:
- Some awards carry obligations (such as delivering an artist talk or an exhibition).
- Applications that feature the artist’s own words are more likely to resonate with the judging panel.
A curator, support worker, or friend/family member may support an artist to apply as long as the artist is aware of and able to fulfill the Terms & Conditions if they are successful.
For most of the SALA Awards, the first round of judging is based on the nomination form and yields a selection of finalists. All applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application via the email address provided in the form.
The next round of judging is generally based on real-life visits to finalists’ exhibitions where possible. Judges will visit the exhibition that corresponds to the registration ID number provided in the nomination form, so it is important that nominees in multiple exhibitions pay careful attention to which registration ID they provide.
Most award winners are announced at the conclusion of the Festival.
The registration ID number that you provide in the award nomination form will determine which exhibition the judges will visit if you are a finalist. Please provide the registration ID number that corresponds with the exhibition containing the artwork referred to in your award nomination form.
Artists applying for the Advertiser Contemporary Art Award simply need to provide a registration ID number as proof of participation in the SALA Festival.
Unless specified otherwise, the images that you upload into the award nomination form should be of one artwork. One image should be of the whole artwork, and any other images can show close-up details, texture, or alternative angles of the work.
Yes, if you submit an artwork for an award, it needs to be displayed in your SALA exhibition in the same year. The Advertiser Contemporary Art Award is an exception.
The artwork that you submit in the award form should be created/completed since the last SALA Awards closed (May 2023) and not previously submitted for a SALA Award. If your exhibition contains a mix of old and new work, only the new work can be submitted in the awards.
We reccommend that you start a draft of your Award nomination form, and wait until closer to the deadline to actually submit it. This may allow you more time to develop the work and get an image of it for the form.
Previous finalists have been selected based on material that was indicative of an artwork that wasn’t finished at the time of submission (but was completed for the exhibition in August).
Most of the SALA Awards aim to recognise excellence in an individual artwork.
If an artwork is created by two or more artists working in collaboration, that artwork is eligible for the SALA Awards. However, a group of artists creating individual works for a group exhibition will need to nominate their works individually for the SALA Awards.
Judging visits are not disclosed to nominees, so it is imperative that any changes to exhibition opening times are communicated with the SALA team via phone or email as soon as you become aware of them. Judging cannot be guaranteed when details of the registration change.
If judging your finalist artwork in person is not possible, SALA will request alternative documentation from you. It’s worth noting that previous finalists who have been judged via supplementary documentation have gone on to win their award.
An artist biography can be described as a resume in paragraph form. It details things like relevant study and your top achievements. These are usually written in third-person (eg. “The artist was born in Adelaide”) but will be accepted in first-person (eg. “I was born in Adelaide”) unless stipulated otherwise.
Things you can include:
- relevant study, degrees, qualifications, or noting if the artist is self-taught
- achievements, awards (won or shortlisted for), mentorships (formal or informal), residencies, studios or collectives you may be part of
- if you do not have much experience, you may supplement the above with:
- your influences (other artists)
- what motivates or inspires your work (persons, events, experiences, politics). Usually an artist’s inspiration is saved for an artist statement, but if a statement is not also requested, it is acceptable to include this information in the artist biography (word-count permitting).
An artist statement usually touches on themes, influences, concepts, materials, and processes in your art. It may be written in first or third person.
Broadly speaking, an artist statement can be about your practice in general, or it can relate to a specific artwork. In the context of the SALA Awards, you may want cover both, depending on the word count and what is most important or the judges to know (this may be different for each artist).
For a shorter word count, focus on succinctly conveying the most important things for the judges to know about the artwork in the context of that award. If an award is tied to a theme, ensure that the connection to the theme is conveyed in your statement. For example, an artwork submitted to the Inspiring SA Art in Science Award may not have an obvious tie to science at first glance, but the artist can use their statement to explain the connection (eg. perhaps there is a significant link to science in their process of making).
There are free online tools that you can use to reduce the size of your jpg file (like this one).
If you are using a program such as Photoshop (or equivalent) there is often a Save for Web option that use can use to reduce the file size.
Most of our award forms have a limit of 10MB (10,000kb) per image file.
Jpeg (.jpg) is the most common image format. We recommend that you use this filetype when submitting for the awards (unless asked otherwise) as it will be more likely to save at a reasonable size that our system can handle.
PNG (.png) is a high quality image format but can be higher than is necessary for images that are only going to be viewed on a screen.
TIFF (.tif) is a filetype that will not be accepted by our system. This filetype is meant for files that you are not finished working on, and holds on to all possible data in case you need it in the editing process (meaning that the file is quite big). Try exporting a jpeg from your TIFF file and save them as two separate things.
Please check out our resource dedicated to photographing your work.
You might also consider contracting a photographer to take high quality images of your work.
If you are asked to provide a link to support material, generally this link needs to be ‘publicly viewable’ so that all members of the judging panel can access the content. This can be done via Google Drive, Dropbox, Wondershare, etc. Password protection is fine.
Header image by David Hume, winner of the 2022 SALA Solo Photographic Opportunity
Open for Applications
There aren’t any SALA opportunities currently open for applications, but check back later!
Country Arts SA
Breaking Ground Award
The Country Arts SA Breaking Ground Award sets out to elevate and accelerate the careers of South Australian regional visual artists by providing the support to push the boundaries of their practice into new and uncharted territory.
The winner will receive $10,000 to develop a body of work for solo exhibition at Praxis Artspace in metropolitan Adelaide. In addition, Country Arts SA will provide a $5,000 mentorship opportunity for the applicant to work with a mentor of their choosing + support exhibition production costs and curatorial support.
Prize: $10,000 to develop a body of work for solo exhibition + $5,000 mentorship opportunity.
Applications open: 1 March – Sunday 12 May 2024 (11:59pm)
Eligible applicants:
- MUST be a resident of regional South Australia as currently defined under the South Australian Country Arts Trust Act (1992) (see Country Arts SA website to check your regional status)
- Can be at any stage of their career
- Can be working in any medium
For more information including selection criteria, tips for making the most of your application and full terms and conditions, visit the Country Arts SA website or download a print-friendly PDF information sheet.
Country Arts SA welcomes and supports diversity and accessibility. We welcome applications in both written and video format. For further information, please contact our Visual Arts Manager Lauren Mustillo for further details.
To apply for the Breaking Ground award complete an application form (or submit a video application) via the Country Arts SA website before midnight, 12 May 2024.
You must provide:
- Responses to the application questions
- Provide a brief artist statement which outlines your current artistic practice (250 words or approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds)
- Describe how you intend to use this award to push the boundaries of your practice and ‘break new ground’ (500 words or approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds)
- Why did you select your mentor and how do you propose to work with them? (250 words or approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds)
- Please provide a timeline for your project which reflects a clear vision on how you will work towards the 2025 exhibition outcome (250 words or approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds)
- Proof of residency
- A 1-page curriculum vitae
- Up to 10 digital images of recent works of art (images should be clearly labelled, be no more than five years old and provided in jpeg or tiff format with a resolution of at least 300 dpi)
- Images must be accompanied by a ‘works list’ which clearly specifies the artist’s name, artwork title, year of creation, medium, size
- A support letter from your mentor confirming their participation
- A curriculum vitae from your mentor
Lauren Mustillo
Visual Arts Manager, Country Arts SA
2 McLaren Parade, Port Adelaide SA 5015
0428 106 160 | (08) 8444 0416
Centennial Park Sculpture Exhibition
South Australian artists & makers who create outdoor sculpture are invited to submit artwork for consideration in the SALA in the Park exhibition in the beautiful grounds of Centennial Park during SALA Festival 2025.
Unitcare Services Digital Media Award
This award seeks to encourage experimentation in new media and is for artists working in digital art including computer, moving image, virtual, interactive, sound, and internet platforms.
Prize: $5,000
Applications open: 1 March – Sunday 12 May 2024 (11:59pm)
Artists who are registered in the 2024 SALA Festival with work that is considered to be (or be connected to) ‘digital media’ may apply for this award at no cost.
This may include (but is not limited to):
- computer art
- moving image
- virtual art
- augmented reality art
- interactive art
- sound art
- artwork presented online
Artwork submitted must:
- have been created/completed since May 2023
- not have been submitted to the 2023 SALA Awards
- be displayed at the SALA exhibition/event noted in the form.
Artists can apply for this award by logging in to the SALA Online Portal from 1 March 2024. It is free and easy to create an account.
Once logged in, click on ‘Awards’ in the left menu. Then click on ‘UnitCare Services Digital Media Award’ to open a new application form.
Draft application forms will appear at the bottom of the page as soon as you log in. Click the ‘edit’ button next to a draft to return to it.
You will receive a confirmation email after you submit your award application. If you do not receive one, please get in touch with SALA Festival to ensure that your award application submitted correctly.
The award application form will ask for:
- The registration ID number for the exhibition/event that your submitted artwork will be featured in (eg: R12345)
- a brief statement about your work (max 100 words)
- an image or still of your work
- link to your digital work or a preview of it (optional)
1 March / Award opens for applications
8 May / Festival registrations close
12 May / Award applications close
Late July / finalists announced
1-31 August / judging occurs during the Festival
September / winner announced
Note to galleries: Gallery staff and curators are encouraged to support their artists to make their own award application, rather than do it for them.
Judging: Finalists will be determined (and announced) prior to the Festival based on the work supplied in the nomination form. Judging of the finalist artwork will take place during SALA 2024 and the winner will be announced at the conclusion of the SALA 2024.
