Youth Photographic Award and Short Film Prize

 

Radiant Heart, Malatesta Viggo, Year 10, Inner Sydney High School

Calling on all high school students from year 7 to year 12 in the local area, it’s time to unleash your creativity and submit a photo or short film entry to our Youth Photographic Award and Short Film Prize 2025. Our competition has been running since 1994, showcasing a broad range of images and short films from thousands of students over the years. The annual competition and exhibition, with cash prizes totalling more than $2,000, is a local celebration of creative expressions by our young and talented high school students.

The Woollahra Youth Photographic Award and Short Film Prize 2025 will be exhibited at the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf from Wednesday 27 August to Sunday 14  September 2025.

View entry conditions information(PDF, 353KB)

Enter here

Key dates

Categories and Prizes

Photography

Junior category (Years 7, 8, 9)
First prize: $300
Highly Commended: $150

Senior category (Years 10, 11, 12)
First prize: $300
Highly Commended: $150

Open Categories (Years 7–12)

Mayor’s Choice
First prize: $300
Highly Commended: $150

People’s Choice
Voted by the public: $150

Short Film

Open category (Years 7–12)
First Prize: $400
Highly Commended: $200

View entry conditions information(PDF, 353KB)

Enter here

Judges

The 2025 Youth Photographic Award and Short Film Prize judges are:

Tiyan Baker, Photographic judge,  Image Credit: Alfonse Chiu, 2023

Photographic Judge: Tiyan Baker, Artist

Tiyan Baker is an artist who works with installation, photography, video and sculpture. Centring her Bidayǔh culture in her works, Baker is interested in things she has unknowingly inherited. Living far from native lands, culture and family, in the midst of the (re)colonisation of Borneo, she explores all that can be mistranslated or lost, and what can manifest in its place. She has shown her works widely across Australia, and is the winner of the 2022 National Photography Prize awarded by the Murray Art Museum Albury.
She was born and raised on the Larrakia lands known as Darwin and currently lives and works on the Awabakal and Worimi lands known as Newcastle, Australia.

Samuel Lucas Allen, Short film judge

Short Film Judge: Samuel Lucas Allen, Film Writer and Director

Samuel Lucas Allen is an award-winning writer and director who works in film, theatre. Currently, Sam is in distribution for their film 'Cut', a coming-of-age drama about Faith, Queerness and the internet alt-right. 'Cut' had its Premiere at Vancouver international film festival. It won Best Short Fiction Film at Buenos Aires International Film Festival and Best Editing at Canberra short film festival and was nominated for best director and best short at the Melbourne queer film festival. Sam’s film 'After Saturn' a devised family drama, took home Best Short Director at the Kansas Arthouse Film Festival and was nominated for best director at CinniFest Oz and Best Score at St Kilda. 'Plastic' was nominated for Best Music Video and Best Experimental Film at the ATOM awards and Best Editing of a Music Video. 'Only The Beautiful' saw Sam nominated for Best Director at Sanford International Film Festival, and their first film, 'School Night', was nominated for a Robin Anderson Film Award. They are currently in postproduction for a new short and are in development for a TV show and Feature Film, all focusing on the theme of rebellion in the face of environmental calamity. Sam aims to continue working in theatre and film, focusing on newly devised films and developing new and established theatre work.