CIAF 2026 Art Awards
Each year, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and its Award Partners recognise the depth, innovation and cultural strength of Queensland’s First Nations artists through the CIAF Art Awards.
1pm – 2pm Friday 10 July | Tank 5 | RSVP/Free
Each year, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and its Award Partners recognise the depth, innovation and cultural strength of Queensland’s First Nations artists through the CIAF Art Awards.
Presented within the CIAF Art Fair Showcase, the Awards celebrate artistic excellence while supporting the professional development and visibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working across contemporary visual arts practice.
Over the years, the CIAF Art Awards have become a significant platform for career development, with many past recipients and finalists going on to exhibit nationally and internationally. In 2026, CIAF is proud to present one of the largest First Nations art prize pools in the country, with more than $70,000 in awards presented across six categories.
The CIAF Art Awards are unique in that there is no separate application process. All eligible works exhibited within the CIAF Art Fair Showcase are automatically considered for judging, including works presented by Queensland Art Centres, independent artists, commercial galleries and invited exhibitors.
Each year, CIAF appoints a panel of respected arts leaders, curators and industry professionals to judge the Awards.
CIAF 2026 Art Awards Categories
- $25,000 Premier’s Award for Excellence — Sponsored by the Queensland Government
- $10,000 Innovation Award — Sponsor to be announced
- $10,000 Art Centre Award — Sponsor to be announced
- $10,000 Emerging Artist Award — Sponsored by Apunipima Cape York Health Council
- $10,000 CATAPULT Professional Development Award — Sponsored by Cairns Regional Council
- $5,000 3D Design, Sculpture & Installation Award — Sponsored by Ports North
- $5,000 People’s Choice Award — Sponsored by Torres Strait Regional Authority
The People’s Choice Award is determined by public vote and announced during the CIAF 2026 Closing Ceremony on Sunday 12 July at Tanks Arts Centre.
Explore past CIAF Art Award recipients and finalists below:
- 2021 CIAF Art Awards
- 2020 CIAF Art Awards
- 2019 CIAF Art Awards
- 2018 CIAF Art Awards
- 2017 CIAF Art Awards
Image: Djabugay/Yirrgay artist Bernard Singleton, recipient of the Premier’s Award for Excellence at the 2025 CIAF Art Awards. Awarded for his commanding wood-carving Offering, 2025. Photograph: Blueclick Photography.
CIAF 2026 Art Award Judges
Freja Carmichael
Freja Carmichael is a Ngugi woman from the Quandamooka people and is Curator at the University of Queensland Art Museum. Over the past decade, she has worked alongside First Peoples and communities on exhibitions, programming, collection research and documentation at art centres, regional galleries, cultural gatherings, contemporary art spaces and national and international institutions. Freja’s work is dedicated to centring First Peoples’ knowledges, creative practices and fibre traditions and to creating spaces for collaboration, intercultural exchanges and intergenerational sharing through curatorial approaches. Recent curatorial projects include to come together as water, UQ Art Museum (2025); co-curator of The National 4: Australian Art Now, Carriageworks (2023); the national touring exhibition long water: fibre stories (2020–22), Institute of Modern Art; and Weaving the Way (2019), UQ Art Museum. Freja is a member of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection Advisory Council at the University of Virginia, United States and is currently a PhD candidate at UQ.
Aven Noah Jr.
Aven Noah Jr. is a proud Komet Tribesman from Mer/Murray Island in Eastern Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait Islands and currently serves as the Exhibitions Technical & Touring Lead at NorthSite Contemporary Arts in Gimuy/Cairns. An alumnus of the National Gallery of Australia’s Indigenous Arts Leadership Program (2015), he brings over 17 years of experience in the arts sector.
Aven approaches his work with a deep understanding of Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge, maintaining strong respect for cultural protocols and community connections. Prior to his current role, he worked as Gallery Officer at the Gab Titui Cultural Centre on Thursday Island.
Sophia Sambono
Sophia Nampitjimpa Sambono is a Jingili woman with family connections from Elliott/Newcastle Waters to Darwin, Daly River and the Tiwi Islands. She is the Associate Curator, Indigenous Australia Art at QAGOMA and is curator of Danie Mellor’s solo exhibition ‘marru | the unseen visible’, ‘ingkwia tjaiya, lyaartinya tjaiya (old way, new way): 30 years of Hermannsburg Pottery in the Collection’, ‘Great and Small: Kindred creatures in the Indigenous Australian Art Collection’ and ‘Snap Blak: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island photography from the Collection’ all 2025. Prior to QAGOMA, Sophia curated exhibitions for kuril dhagun at the State Library of Queensland and was Curator of Indigenous Collections at the National Film and Sound Archive.
Thank you to our 2026 CIAF Art Awards Sponsors. Their support helps recognise artistic excellence and champion the work of First Nations artists from across Queensland. To enquire about Award Sponsorship opportunities, please contact partnerships [at] ciaf.com.au.
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