1. Entry fee 

The 2026 M16 Artspace Young Drawers Prize is free to enter

2. Eligibility  

The competition is open to all artists under 18 years of age (as at time of entry) living in Australia. 

Entry forms and images must be submitted online before 11:59pm Sunday 4 October 2026  

All artworks entered must have been completed in the last 12 months. 

All works must be unframed and unmounted to be eligible. 

Artworks entered must be the original work of the artist. Known copies of other artworks will not be accepted. 

Artists and their parent/guardians must ensure that their work does not infringe Copyright or Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). 

All artworks must be available to be displayed in the M16 Artspace Young Drawers Prize Finalist’s exhibition from Saturday 21 November to Sunday 13 December 2026.  

Artists may only submit one entry. 

All artworks must be no larger than A4 (21cm x 30cm) 

3. Sale of Works 

All artworks are not for sale. 

4. Prize Categories 

The Senior Prize 

To be eligible for the Senior Prize the artist must be between 12 and 18 years of age as at time of entry.  

The Junior Prize 

To be eligible for the Junior Prize the artist must be 11 years of age and under as at time of entry.  

Digital Drawing Prize 

To be eligible for the Digital Drawing Prize artworks must draw upon digital technology as an essential part of the creation of the drawing. This technology could include digital devices such as tablets, computers, or smartphones.  

Any use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in your entry must be noted in the entry form.  

The Digital Drawing Prize is not open to video works and will only accept digital still images. Digitally created drawings are permitted. Photographic manipulations, graphic design works and stills from video art are not accepted.

Prints of digital artwork creations will be accepted in the Digital Drawing Prize. 

If selected for the finalist’s exhibition entrants may submit a digital file of work (formatted as a jpeg or png) to be displayed on a monitor of M16 Artspace’s choosing or a print of the digital.  

5. Entry Details 

All entries must include the following information: 

• One image per artwork. JPG files only, high resolution, maximum file size 3MB. Files must be named as Artist Name_Artwork Title__ Year Completed. Image credit.jpg. Image credit must be the name of the photographer. 

• Year. All works must have been completed in the last year. 

• Installation instructions.  

6. Preparation and Display of Artworks

All works must be unframed, unmounted, appropriately fixed, and ready for installation.

Artworks on paper will be pinned through the paper to the wall, (or)

Please attach tabs to your work if you do not want your work pinned directly to the wall or consult M16 about alternative hanging methods.

7. Selection Process

There will be two rounds of judging.

The first round will be a pre-selection process from the images and information submitted by the entrant, in which a selection panel appointed by M16 Artspace will determine the finalists for the M16 Artspace Young Drawers Prize finalist’s exhibition.

Feedback from this process is unavailable due to the large volume of entries.

Selected finalists will be notified via email by 11.59PM Tuesday 27th October 2026. 

Selected finalists will be hung in the M16 Artspace Young Drawers Prize 2026 finalist’s exhibition.

Finalists will be published on the M16 Artspace website with their works listed.

All artwork entries are eligible to be listed on the M16 Artspace website.

M16 Artspace reserves the right to select entries for listing, not all entries will be selected to be listed on the M16 Artspace website.

In the second round of judging, the selection panel appointed by M16 Artspace will determine the winners of the Junior Prize, the Senior Prize, and the Digital Drawing Junior and Senior Prizes.

The Judges’ decisions are final on all aspects of selection and awarding of prizes. No correspondence or appeal will be entered into or considered.

M16 Artspace reserves the right to amend the prize pool; not to award prizes or add additional prizes based upon on the Judge’s decisions.

8. Delivery and Collection of Work

All artworks selected for the Young Drawers Prize must be delivered by post or in person to M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Crescent Griffith ACT 2603 OR PO Box 4878 Kingston 2604, between 11am Tuesday 3 November and 5pm Wednesday 4 November 2026. 

Works can be delivered prior to Tuesday 3 November 2026 BY APPOINTMENT ONLY with the M16 Artspace office. If artworks are to be delivered by courier or post, please notify the M16 Artspace office of the name of the courier company.

M16 Artspace reserves the right to disqualify any finalist entries that are not delivered by this date.

All artworks must be collected from M16 Artspace between 11am to 5pm 15th – 17th December 2026.   

If these dates are not suitable, it is the artist or their parent/guardian’s responsibility to make alternative arrangements with M16 Artspace. Otherwise, M16 Artspace cannot be held responsible for the storage of the artwork.

If artworks are to be collected by courier, the artist or their parent/guardian must organise the courier and advise M16 Artspace of all details, including the name of the courier company and approximate time and date for collection.

If an artwork has not been collected within one week of the exhibition closing and the artist the artist or their parent/guardian has not contacted M16 Artspace staff to arrange collection, M16 Artspace has permission to dispose of the artwork.

If works are to be returned by post this must be organised by the artist or their parent/guardian and will incur a $30 administration fee. The artist must supply a self-addressed prepaid Australia Post satchel and organise insurance with Australia Post. Works that the artist wishes to be returned by post but that are sent without these will not be returned.

Freight costs, insurance and all charges relating to delivery and collection of works of art are the responsibility of the artist or their parent/guardian.

9. Care and Responsibility

M16 Artspace will take all reasonable care with the works submitted but is not responsible for any loss or damage of work during the period of the Prize and exhibition, or while in transit to or from the exhibition.

It is the responsibility of the artist or their parent/guardian to arrange insurance for their own artworks in transit to/from and during the exhibition.

All Artists must clearly label all packaging materials with name and artwork title. All packaging materials must be provided by the artist.

Each entrant consents to the reproduction and/or publication of their work being photographed and/or used for the purposes of publicity, review, research, reports and/or reference in connection with activities of M16 Artspace and/or the M16 Young Drawers Prize.

Prior to submitting the entry form, artists must have received permission from their parents/guardians to enter in the prize and display their works if selected.

By submitting an entry to the M16 Artspace Young Drawers Prize the parent/guardian of the artist consents to M16 Artspace publishing the artist’s first name in relation to the exhibition.

If the parent/guardian of the artist wishes to withdraw or change how the artists name is published, the parent/guardian must inform M16 Artspace of this before the 9th of November 2026.

By submitting an entry to the M16 Artspace Young Drawers Prize you are agreeing to the above Terms & Conditions.

10. Copyright 

Copyright for submitted works remains the property of the artist.

Finalists grant M16 Artspace non-exclusive license to use images of their work, in print and online, within Australia for the purpose of promoting the M16 Young Drawers Prize and M16 Artspace.

All entrants grant M16 Artspace non-exclusive licence to use images of their work and associated artist statements for the purposes of listing on the M16 Artspace website.

10.4 The entrant accepts that M16 Artspace reserves the right to edit the supplied artist statement to ensure editorial consistency with the requirements outlined in these terms and conditions.

M16 reserves the right to edit artist statements and artwork images, in consultation with the artist or their parent/guardian, for the purposes of any media release and any text labels that are associated with the exhibition. M16 may make changes at its discretion for the purposes of quality control or ensuring content meets the Gallery’s ethical standards.

Where an artist or parent/guardian of the artist objects to the inclusion of their work in this publicly available digital record, they may email M16 Artspace to arrange the removal of the image.

When an image is used, the artist’s first name and title of the work will be acknowledged unless permission of the parent/guardian of the artist is withdrawn.

11. Attribution

Artists will be credited both online and alongside their physical artworks when on display.