The Process
Digital Entry
All submissions go through a pre-selection process from the digital images supplied by the artist and are judged on merit by the three independent pre-selection judges. Artist's names are not visible to the judges.
Next stage Results are collated by a rigorous points system and the selected works are called in and delivered to the venue for final judging by the Guest Judge. Artists are advised of the outcome via the website and will be sent information as to when their work will be called in.
Finalist award judging is made by the sole Guest Judge in (person)when the work is curated and hung.
Selected works A list of finalists and the titles of their works is posted on this website (prior to opening)
Exhibition The Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Exhibition is on display at Te kōputu a te whanga a Toi
Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre. DETAILS HERE
Winners
The awards are presented at the opening event.
All finalists and winners are encouraged to attend the prize giving.
The major winner is especially encouraged to be present to receive their award.
Digital Entry
All submissions go through a pre-selection process from the digital images supplied by the artist and are judged on merit by the three independent pre-selection judges. Artist's names are not visible to the judges.
Next stage Results are collated by a rigorous points system and the selected works are called in and delivered to the venue for final judging by the Guest Judge. Artists are advised of the outcome via the website and will be sent information as to when their work will be called in.
Finalist award judging is made by the sole Guest Judge in (person)when the work is curated and hung.
Selected works A list of finalists and the titles of their works is posted on this website (prior to opening)
Exhibition The Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Exhibition is on display at Te kōputu a te whanga a Toi
Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre. DETAILS HERE
Winners
The awards are presented at the opening event.
All finalists and winners are encouraged to attend the prize giving.
The major winner is especially encouraged to be present to receive their award.
|
2026 Guest Judge Judy Darragh Judy Darragh lives and works in Auckland, Aotearoa, and played a significant role in the development of Artspace, Auckland (now Artspace Aotearoa), the independent artist-run spaces Teststrip, Auckland, and Cuckoo. Her work is known for brightly coloured sculptural assemblages of found objects, recycled items, industrial materials, collages, photography, video and poster art. Her practice came to prominence during the 1980s in an era of conspicuous consumption; her work displays a fondness for everyday objects that is witty and provocative. Judy has taught art at secondary and tertiary levels for over 40 years and has mentored young artists throughout Aotearoa. She, with Imogen Taylor, co-editor of Femisphere, a publication supporting women’s art practices in Aotearoa. Judy continues to exhibit extensively throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand and her works are held in numerous public collections in Aotearoa. Judy is a member of Arts Makers Aotearoa, an advocacy group for the visual arts. www.femisphere.co.nz www.artsmakersaotearoa.nz Photo credit : Sam Hartnett |
Ngaroma Riley is an artist and people connector of Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, and Pākehā descent.
A founder of Te Ana o Hine, a wahine-led carving shed based at Te Tuhi in Tāmaki Makaurau, Ngaroma began her carving journey making Buddhist statues while working in Japan. Since returning to Aotearoa in 2020, she has completed a Certificate in Whakairo at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. In 2022, she built a storehouse for a public installation in Kaitaia, and in 2025, she won the Molly Morpeth Canaday Major Award. She is known for her karetao (hand-carved puppets) and love of chainsaws. 
|
2026 Preliminary Judge Matt Ellwood Matt Ellwood is an artist and art teacher with more than 25 years of professional experience in the arts sector, merging his passion for both art and education. He was born in Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington and lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. He was, until recently, the Head of Fine Arts at Whitecliffe College, where he is still teaching as a Senior Lecturer and studying towards a PhD through AUT. His thesis working title is “Expanded Drawing and the Gallery as Site: From the Drawing Lesson to the Pensive Image”
merging representational charcoal drawing and advertising imagery with crafted sculptures that also function as drawing apparatus in a gallery setting. Ellwood has been, among many roles, a high school teacher; a national visual arts resource developer; and a University Tuakana programme coordinator. He is an award winning artist himself, earlier in his career, winning the Arts Trust Development and Kaipara Awards, as well as a merit in the Parkin Drawing Prize. He has an extensive exhibition record both nationally and internationally, and has been curated into major survey exhibitions and publications of contemporary New Zealand art. He is represented in Auckland by Melanie Roger Gallery. |
|
2026 Preliminary Judge Christina Barton I am a writer, curator, editor and educator based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
I began my career by compiling the first history of post-object art in New Zealand for my Master of Arts thesis, documenting 26 artists engaged in a radical redefinition of art between 1969 and 1979. My interest in conceptual and critical practices has underpinned my subsequent scholarship. I have written about and made exhibitions with key figures of that formative generation, including Jim Allen, Billy Apple, Bruce Barber, Philip Dadson, Vivian Lynn and Pauline Rhodes, and I have developed a deep understanding of the post-conceptual practices of artists working through subsequent decades. I call myself a ‘critical art historian’ and, as such, advocate for women artists, draw attention to overlooked and under-recognised media and practices, and think through the power dynamics and cultural complexities of working in and writing about art in Aotearoa New Zealand. I have straddled academic and institutional worlds, teaching at the University of Auckland (1985–87) and Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington (1995–2023), and holding curatorial positions at Robert McDougall Art Gallery (now Christchurch Art Gallery, 1979), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (1988–92), and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (1993–95). I helped establish (in 1999) then led Adam Art Gallery at Victoria University from 2007 to 2023. I have produced over 50 substantial curated exhibitions, published 30 books and exhibition catalogues, written more than 125 articles and essays, and contributed my knowledge and expertise as advisor, selector and judge to national and international cultural organisations and prizes. In 2021, I became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for my services to art history and curating, and in 2023 I was awarded Doctor of Literature (DLitt) by Victoria University of Wellington for my scholarship. Highlights of my career include conceiving and curating the first biennial review of contemporary art – Art Now – for the Museum of New Zealand in 1994; producing the only monograph on Pauline Rhodes (Ground/Work, Victoria University Press, 2002) and delivering the first and only retrospective and monograph on Vivian Lynn (I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery, 2009). My work with New Zealand’s leading conceptual artist Billy Apple (1935–2021) has resulted in many essays and exhibitions, including his 2015 retrospective at Auckland Art Gallery: Billy Apple® The Artist Has To Live Like Everybody Else and a major publication, Billy Apple® Life/Work (Auckland University Press, 2020). The solo exhibitions I staged at the Adam Art Gallery with Joseph Kosuth, Anthony McCall, Kim Pieters, Simon Denny, Ruth Buchanan, Luke Willis Thompson, Joyce Campbell, Kate Newby, Edith Amituanai, and many others are also memorable milestones. Working with artists and for the art of this place continues to be a life-long vocation. |
|