Final Round of 2017 SALA Awards Winners Announced

South Australian photographers Trent Parke and Narelle Autio and Alice Blanch have taken out the final two prizes in the 2017 South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival Awards, announced tonight (Wednesday August 30) at Adelaide's Government House.

Duo Trent Parke and Narelle Autio were honoured with the night's major prize, the Unitcare Services Moving Image Award, winning $5,000 for their multimedia work "The Summation of Force", on show at The Samstag Museum of Art until Friday, September 1.

Emerging 28-year-old photographer Alice Blanch won the Atkins Photographic Award, consisting of an edition of three giclee archival fine art prints, for her ethereal landscape work "A Shifting Stillness", on show as part of the "island home" exhibition at Adelaide Airport until September 19.

In all, 20 emerging and established South Australian artists have shared in more than $38,000 in cash and prizes across nine categories in the annual awards, which recognise artistic achievement across all mediums and practices and are judged by a panel of experts and influencers across the arts, media and commercial sectors.

One final award, the SALA Festival Patron's Art Writer's Award for writing about South Australian living visual artists, will be announced later in the year with nominations closing tomorrow (Thursday August 31). For more information or to nominate go to salafestival.com/current-awards.

SALA Festival Director Penny Griggs commended all the winners and finalists, saying the high standard of entries in this year's awards had made the judges' task even more difficult.

"Every year we are consistently impressed at the high quality of works submitted for the SALA Awards, and 2017 was absolutely no exception," Ms Griggs said.

"This year we received nearly 300 entries from artists of all backgrounds and art forms from right across South Australia, showing the incredible breadth of art making we have in this state."

Tonight's announcement comes ahead of the SALA Festival's final day tomorrow (Thursday August 31), as the month long, statewide festival draws to a close for its milestone 20th year. This year's festival presented a record breaking 6282 artists in 660 free exhibitions across Adelaide and regions, in more than 560 venues from pubs and cafes to wineries, bookshops and even cemeteries.

2017 SALA AWARDS - FULL LIST OF WINNERS & FINALISTS

• The Advertiser Contemporary Art Award
  • $5,000 cash for the most outstanding contemporary work in any medium.
  • WINNER: Julia McInerney.
  • FINALISTS: Alice Blanch, Verity Jasmin Burley, Wesley Harrop, BerNadine Johnson, Sonali Patel, Tom Phillips, Deborah Prior, Carly Snoswell, Karlien van Rooyen, Laura Wills.
• Unitcare Services Moving Image Award
  • $5,000 cash for an artist working in moving image or new media.
  • WINNERS: Trent Parke and Narelle Autio.
  • FINALISTS: Che Chorley, Sophie Corso, Paul Forza.
• Third Royal South Australian Society of Arts Biennial Portrait Prize
  • Total cash prizes up to $21,750 for artists creating portraits in any medium.
  • MAJOR PRIZE WINNER: Kristone Capistrano.
  • CATEGORY WINNERS: Ellie Noir, Tom Keukenmeester, Michael Smerd, Jasmine Dixon, DarylAustin, Margaret Walsh.
  • For full list of winners and finalists go to rsasarts.com.au
• City Rural Emerging Artist Award
  • $2,500 cash for an artist in the early stages of their career with under five years professional experience.
  • WINNER: Jane Skeer.
  • FINALISTS: Paloma Concierta, Steph Fuller.
• The City of Unley Active Ageing Award
  • $2,000 cash and an exhibition space in Unley for SALA 2018 for an artist over the age of 60.
  • WINNER: Andrea Malone.
  • FINALISTS: Tina Barr, Judy Parham.
• Adelaide Review Outsider Art Award
  • $1,000 cash for an artist who identifies their work as "outsider": art created outside the boundaries of the established art scene.
  • WINNER: Len Harvey.
  • FINALISTS: Alana Gregory, Steve Oatway.
• Centre for Creative Photography Latent Image Award
  • Up to $725 worth of in-kind assistance for an emerging artist using photography.
  • WINNER: Lee Walter.
  • FINALISTS: Tracy Lymn, Gabrielle Waters.
• Atkins Photographic Award
  • An edition of three giclee archival fine art prints for an artist working in photography.
  • WINNER: Alice Blanch.
  • FINALISTS: Trevor Comley, Bridgette Minuzzo.

To post a comment, you must register and login.