Winners Announced for the 29th Annual Brigalow Arts Festival
Published on 16 October 2025
MEDIA RELEASE
Winners Announced for the 29th Annual Brigalow Arts Festival
The 2025 Brigalow Arts Festival opened on Friday, 10 October, at the Banana Shire Regional Art Gallery in Biloela, marking 29 years of celebrating artistic excellence and creativity across the region.
This year’s festival featured works from more than 100 artists, with pieces exhibited across seven categories, including painting, sculpture, photography & digital and youth works. Artworks reflected the 2025 theme of Transformation, capturing change and growth, through a variety of mediums and perspectives.
The opening night attracted a strong local crowd, with artists, sponsors, and community members gathering to celebrate the winners and finalists in each category.
Mayor Nev Ferrier said the Brigalow Arts Festival remains one of the region’s most valued cultural events. “The Brigalow Arts Festival has grown into a wonderful celebration of creativity in our Shire and surrounding districts,” Mayor Ferrier said. “It’s always great to see people from all over the region coming together to share and enjoy local art. I want to thank the artists, volunteers, sponsors and our gallery staff for the time and effort they put in to make this event possible each year.”
This year’s judging panel include Niloufar Lovegrove and William Debrois who praised the exceptional standard of entries and said the diversity of works on display made selecting winners a challenging task.
Major award winners for 2025 include:
Banana Shire Council Acquisition Award: Roslyn Head – Heliconia Still Life
Moore Australia Acquisition Award: Paula Blundell – Pre-Flight Check
Queensland Nitrates Acquisition Award: Auda Maclean – My Favourite Dam
Youth Encouragement Award: Zaylee Wilkinson – Happy Days
Youth Brigalow Art Award: Harlen Graham – The Rusted Rooster
Transformation Theme Award: Lyn Eather – Pavement Landscape
Emerging Artist Award: Paula Blundell – Pre-Flight Check
Local Artist Award: Susan Cook – Transformations – Secret Women’s Business
Brigalow Art Award: Carol Forster – All About the Banksia
Category winners also included:
2D Works on Paper: Lani Burville (Five Shiny Objects), Ainslie McMahon (Finding Stillness)
Easel Works: Elena Churilova (Fractal Geometry), Andrea Chapman (Mean Girls), Kath Dunne (Bushland Sunset)
Photography and Digital Works: Diane Armstrong (Salt Bloom), Lyn Eather (Changing Views), Keri Lockwood (The Fall of Colour)
3D Works: Simon Locke (Contours in Motion), Sandra Harald (Chrysalis), Mia Clapham (Leopard Shark)
Youth Photography: Mia Clapham (Ibis Abyss), Isabelle Gamble (Lady Musgrave Wildlife: Turtle)
Youth Open (Senior): Mia Jensen (Ignored Destruction), Mia Clapham (The Key to My Heart)
Youth Open (Junior): Sophie Langle (Tides of Transformation), Cody Pokarier (Mind of a Madman)
The Brigalow Arts Festival is proudly supported by Banana Shire Council.
-Ends