The winners of the prestigious Doug Moran Portrait Prize and the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize have been revealed at Juniper Hall in Paddington. Rewarding the best Australian artists, the Moran Prize is believed to be the world’s most valuable portrait prize.

The winner of the 2016 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize is Megan Seres, for Scarlett as Colonial Girl. This portrait represents Sere’s daughter Scarlett, who studied Colonial Australia at school and was cast as the famous convict Mary Wade in a play. The resulting painting reflects not only the close relationship of the two, and an awareness of the vulnerability of the young, but also conveys the forbearance of convict women and the gravity of their situation. Sere presents us “a work which stand alone as an idea which is deeply personal, yet able to embrace history and cast it into a contemporary realm” as the judges, the renowned artists Anne Wallace, Greta Moran and Doug Hall stated. The Sydney based artist receives prize money of 150,000$, the world’s most generous portraiture prize.

Perth based photographer Johannes Reinhart is the winner of the 2016 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, with his photograph Mermaid Show. Finalist of the MCCP in 2015, he manages this year to reach the the first place. The judges of this year’s MCPP were Jon Jones, Director of Photography at the Sunday Times Magazine in the UK and Alan Davies, Emeritus Curator of Photographs at State Library of New South Wales. Jon Jones comments on Johannes images “It was a standout image, that was intriguing and thought provoking, with an almost painterly quality”. Reinhart wins 50,000$ for this photographs that features Michelle Smith as “Tina Tuna” at Perth’s Fringe World Festival.

Finally the Student section prizes in the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize were awarded to Christine Drew from Canberra Girls  High School, ACT (Year 11-12 category); Lachlan Starling from Bull High School, NSW (Year 9-10 category); and Tess Poyner from Narooma High School, NSW (Year 7-8 category).

The 2016 Moran Art Prizes exhibition officially open this evening at Juniper Hall, 250 Oxford Street, Paddington and will open to the public at 10am on Thursday 27 October. The exhibition showcases the works of the 30 finalists in the 2016 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and the 30 finalists of the 2016 Moran Contemporary Photography Prize, as well as the winning entries in the Student section of the Photography Prize. It runs through to February 2017, and it’s the perfect occasion to discover the best of Australian art.

What: Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 

When: Exhibtion Showing until February 2017 

Where: Juniper Hall 250 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW, 2021

To find out more CLICK HERE