The Australian Photography awards 2026 have unveiled their winners, marking the first year with a single open category that encouraged a broad and diverse range of entries. The winning photographs include a portrait from Poppy Steer’s series of trans and queer people at home, Tobias Titz’s portrait of an emerging artist wearing a seizure-protecting helmet, and Rosanna Lang’s image of a snowed-in car on a Japanese island. The exhibition is on show at the Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, until 9 August.
Open Category Winners
Poppy Steer’s 'Homebody' won the open category. Steer described the series: 'An open door portrait series, Homebody documents trans and queer people within the spaces where they are most themselves: home. As a trans person, I am interested in photographing my community beyond the stereotypes often attached to queer identity. Without spectacle, these images bring the audience into the inner sanctum of raw and real queer life.'
Tobias Titz’s portrait of Shoshanna Brott, an emerging multidisciplinary artist, also won. Brott practices at the Arts Project Australia Studio in Melbourne, an organisation championing neurodivergent artists. Brott said: 'My helmet protects my head and brain because I have seizures and fall over onto the floor sometimes. I love to put stickers on my helmet that make me feel happy.'
Rosanna Lang’s 'Snowed in for the winter' captured a quiet morning in post-blizzard Hokkaido, at Asari Station, Otaru, highlighting the intersection of salt and snow.
Student Winners and Honourable Mentions
Joint student winners included Xinshuo Zhuo’s 'Among the Interstices #2', a distressed-toned gelatin silver print exploring residual memory, and Jessica Tormey’s 'Mother dearest', reflecting on a complex maternal relationship.
Honourable mentions went to Emma Crook for 'Matrescence', a reflection on motherhood and aging; Emma Parker for 'Fishermen’s Friend', capturing an Australian pelican under a stormy sky; and Carly Earl for 'Riley and the Roma Southern Road', depicting two men watching sunset over 2,000 head of cattle in rural Queensland.
Other Notable Entries
Miyarrka Media’s 'We Bring Our Djäl Together' showcases a Yolŋu-led co-creative practice, while Jorge Serra’s 'On Bluets' explores the weight of information. William Philipp’s 'A Quiet Cry' depicts a tawny frogmouth, and Elle Leontiev’s 'The Barefoot Volcanologist' portrays Phillip, a self-taught volcanologist on Vanuatu’s Mount Yasur, who works barefoot due to his size 20 feet.
Robyn MacRae’s 'Comet Atlas' highlights human presence in a dark forest, and Isabella Melody Moore’s 'We danced away not with a kangaroo corroboree but with us shaking our booty' documents an Elders Dinner in Redfern. Cara Mand’s 'Childhood' uses medium format film, and Bec Lorrimer’s 'Courage Through Sisterhood' tells the story of two sisters overcoming hardship to complete their HSC.
Bernard Singleton’s 'Nguma ‘Foresight’' reflects on crocodile and cockatoo totems, Raquel Trejo’s 'To the Moon' uses a malfunctioning Nikonos camera underwater, Natalie Finney’s 'Obstruction' questions authenticity with a real butterfly among replicas, and Ellen Smith’s 'Pilbara sunrise' captures dawn over the iron ore landscape.
The exhibition at Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, runs until 9 August, showcasing the breadth of Australian photography.
