The Bridge art prize returns for 2026

Picture: Brad Quinn, "Convergence." Copyright Brad Quinn.

“The Bridge" Art Prize, launched in 2025, is a competition initially set up to highlight the construction of the new Bridgewater Bridge by New Norfolk-based volunteer organisation Derwent Valley Arts and bridge construction company McConnell Dowell, and their business partners.
The inaugural competition was such a huge success that it's back running for 2026 and is also tipped to be an annual event.
One of the competition's main aims is to raise funds for youth art projects, allowing experienced artists to work with young people who are looking at a future career in the field.
Derwent Valley Arts (DVA) said: "We could not have dreamed of a better beginning in 2025 to what is now forecast to grow into the Derwent Valley’s annual arts-focused celebration for many years to come".
The inaugural competition, "The Bridge", aimed to celebrate Tasmania’s largest-ever transport infrastructure project through artistic expression, with Tasmanians asked to submit creativity through photography, painting, printmaking, graffiti, poetry, videography, animation, music, ceramics, textiles and sculpture.
In 2026, The Bridge competition's theme is "Load Bearing", which maintains its construction connection through "bearing the load", which every structure needs for support and strength. Work can reflect what it means to carry or to be carried, or to support and hold space for others and connections to what holds us up and what weighs us down.
This year's theme is also explained by DV Arts"  Artists can show emotional or cultural “bridges” between people — such as connections, relationships, or shared experiences. This might take the form of figurative work, interiors, still life, or even figure-in-landscape compositions that reflect everyday life. It may be a portrait of someone you consider to be a pillar of your community, someone who brings people together, and there is no requirement for your artwork to be a landscape. Judges will be looking for pieces that respond to the theme of Load Bearing — artworks that reflect ideas of support, connection, and the ways individuals and communities hold each other up.
Categories include 2D- Photography, drawing, painting, printmaking; 3D- Ceramics, textiles, sculpture, jewellery; and Multimedia- video and animation. Young people can enter work under any of the categories in their appropriate age range, which is under 18 and under 14 years.
Big prizes are available, with a $25,000 acquisitive main cash award on offer. Special awards include two highly commended awards: a people's choice award worth $2000, junior winner Under 18 years- $500 cash and $500 art supply voucher, Under 14 years $500 cash, Juniors people’s choice Under 18 years $250 cash and $250 art supply voucher and Under 14 years $250 art supply voucher.
The Bridge Art Prize 2026 award ceremony will be held at the Willow Court Ladies Cottage in New Norfolk, where work from finalists will be on display from October 25 to November 22. Winners will also be announced on October 25 and Juniors on October 23, with a junior U14 display also running from the same date through to November 22.
Entries are open to Tasmanian residents until August 30, with eligible work needing to be created in the last 12 months, with no limit to the number of times one can enter.
For more information, visit https://derwentvalleyarts.org/about-the-bridge-art-prize