Who will win?

The question facing any art prize finalist is who’s in the line up. Prizes are a game of weighing up the odds and sometimes looking broader pays off.
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Detail by finalist Sam Scoufos, courtesy the artist and 2014 Sunshine Coast Art Prize.

There are hundreds of art prizes in Australia, from the super high profile to the highly lucrative, but choosing the right one for you that sits in sync with your career path can be key to your chances.

Australian artists are pretty good at throwing their hat in the ring and giving a prize a go, but less are strategic in planning their prize entries over the course of a year.  There is a cost involved in entering a prize, and freight to be considered and studio time. Given that, many artists target the majors to maximize visibility. But it is not always such a wise strategy.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina