On The Up: Rotorua Museum Art Awards return with record $18k prize pool

Rotorua Museum Art Awards 2019 Supreme Award winner Iwi Le Comte with his artwork Te Ipukarea.

A closed museum won’t stop Rotorua and Bay of Plenty artists from showing what they can do.

The Rotorua Museum Art Awards are back for 2026 after a seven-year hiatus, providing local artists the chance to share in an $18,000 prize pool – the largest since the awards began 13 years ago.

Rotorua Lakes Council community experience group manager Alex Wilson said locals’ “wealth of talent” deserved to be celebrated.

Run by Rotorua Museum in association with Friends of Rotorua Museum, the awards aim to inspire local creatives, even while the museum remains closed for strengthening and redevelopment.

Money raised through artwork sales goes towards the museum’s exhibition development project before its reopening, Wilson said.

Four award categories are on offer – the $15,000 Supreme Award, $1000 Youth Award, $1000 Innovation Award and the People’s Choice Award, which gives $500 each to the winning artist and a randomly selected voter.

Iwi Le Comte won the Rotorua Museum Supreme Art Award in 2019 with his work Te Ipukarea, ahead of 187 other entries. Le Comte received a $10,000 prize.

The Lockwood Youth Award, introduced that same year, aims to foster a passion for the arts and build confidence among young artists. Entrants must be aged 18 or under on the exhibition opening date of February 4 and receive a discounted entry fee.

Sponsors for the 2026 awards include Lockwood Buildings, Watts and Hughes, Coombes Johnston BMW and Rotorua Trust.

Rotorua Museum and Heritage director Stewart Brown said the awards always drew an impressive standard of work and he expected this year to be no different.

“We can’t wait,” Brown said.

Entries are open until January 12, with artists able to submit up to two original works created within the past two years.

A gala awards evening will be held on February 4, followed by the finalist exhibition at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre from February 5 to March 1.

All awards, except for the People’s Choice Award, will be announced at a gala awards evening.

Visitors and locals will be able to view the Finalist Exhibition and the Salon des Refusés – featuring works not selected for the main show – free of charge, with the option to purchase artworks to support the museum’s fundraising.

Conditions for entry:

• Artists must be resident or work in the Bay of Plenty
• The work can be any medium, excluding digital/moving image

The work must:

• Be a one-off original and not part of an edition
• Not infringe upon New Zealand copyright laws
• Not be AI-generated and/or have any AI components
• Be the sole work of the artist entering (unless it is listed as a collaboration)
• Have been created within the 24 months before and including the entry close date
• Never have been exhibited previously

For more information about the awards and how to enter, visit the Rotorua museum website.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.