Art Prizes

2026 Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art

George Watson

Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Gisborne, artist George Watson has been awarded the Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art 2026.

The $30,000 prize, facilitated by Toi Tauranga Art Gallery and generously supported by the Acorn Foundation, recognises a single or body of work that has made a critical impact within the field of contemporary art in the last 12 months. 2026 marks the inaugural presentation of this significant new national art award.

Watson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Mutunga) was awarded for her exhibition Apologia, presented at Wellington's Robert Heald Gallery in August 2025. It explored invasion and ancestry using symbolic materials such as wool bale sacking, pins, cultivated sea pearls and paraffin wax. As part of the prize, she will present an exhibition at Toi Tauranga Art Gallery, opening in November 2026.

The judges were Andrew Clifford, Director of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui; Sophie Davis, Director of Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery; and John Vea, an Ōtautahi Christchurch academic and artist who works with sculpture, video and performance art.

George Watson says “I am incredibly honoured to be awarded the first iteration of the Jann Medlicott award for Contemporary Art. It has been a privilege to get to meet some of Jann’s close friends and hear more about her love of, and ongoing support for, the arts in Aotearoa. This generous award will undoubtedly have a hugely positive impact on my work and the development of my artistic practice as well as the practices of future recipients”.

Major Art Award

Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art

The $30,000 Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art has been established through the generous bequest of Jann Medlicott NZOM (pictured) via the Acorn Foundation and will be awarded biennially to an ascending artist who has made a significant contribution to contemporary art practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. It will be judged by a panel of industry experts who will base their decision on the contribution of the artist over the two years leading up to the award. The inaugural recipient will be announced in early 2026 and their exhibition will be presented in the Gallery later that year.

Jann passed away in 2022 leaving a significant legacy to the arts, including the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Jann worked at Tauranga Hospital as Clinical Director of Radiology and then co-founded two private radiology practices in Tauranga, where she worked until 2011. Retirement allowed Jann to pursue her love for art and literature. She was recognised in the 2021 Queen's New Year's Honours, becoming a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to philanthropy, the creative arts and radiology.

Youth Awards

Acorn Foundation Junior Art Award

Established in 2021, this biennial youth art award showcases exceptional talent from tamariki (children) at primary and intermediate schools in the Bay of Plenty. The creative and diverse responses to the changing themes, created with many different forms of media, always provide a snapshot of the playful, whimsical and honest ways our youth view the world. Next Awards 2027.

Major Painting Award

Rydal Art Prize

The Rydal Art Prize is an award for painting. Founded by Seeds Trust and Toi Tauranga Art Gallery, the impressive line-up of winners for the first three iterations are: Christina Pataialii in 2019, Ayesha Green in 2021 and Owen Conners in 2023. Connors will present their show in early 2026. The Awards continue at Te Uru Gallery with Ruth Ige announced as the 2025 recipient.

Image: Ayesha Green Two Māori Boys Pictured in a Field, 2022