More than two decades on the cutting edge
Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery has hosted and administered the National Contemporary Art Award since 2006, following its founding by the Waikato Society of Arts (WSA) in 2000. This makes it one of the longest running and most prestigious awards of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Formerly known as the Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award and the Bold Horizon National Contemporary Art Award, the award is now known as the National Contemporary Art Award.
Local philanthropic organisation Trust Waikato were generous sponsors until 2009 and the Trust Waikato Collection boasts many works by winners and finalists. 2010 heralded a change and Bold Horizon, a brand development and marketing firm, sponsored the award for two years.
In 2012, the well-known Waikato philanthropist and farmer, Barry Hopkins sponsored the award. Despite being very unwell, he was able to attend the award ceremony and purchased one of the finalist works, Meet me inside #2 by Natalie Guy.
2013 saw the return of the founders of the award as the WSA generously donated the first prize of $15,000.
From 2016 the prize for the award increased to $20,000 thanks to joint sponsors Tompkins Wake and Chow:Hill. Three merit awards of $1,000 each were added to the prize pool.
Tompkins Wake became the principal sponsor from 2023, generously providing the entirety of the $20,000 top prize. In the same year, the Hugo Charitable Trust increased the value of the Runner Up prize to $7,500, bringing to total prize pool to more than $30,000.
An egalitarian approach
The switch to blind judging was made in 2012 and was well received by the arts community. Entrants' identities are concealed throughout the judging process, allowing the works to be assessed on their own merits alongside the anonymous artist statement.
Judges are met with the intrepid task of viewing myriad videos and photographs, and reading artist's statements.
Yet despite this consistent criteria, each judge selects their own finalists and winners with vastly differing rationales for their choices.
Previous winners
2025: "The Silence Forced Upon Us Is Louder Than the Crown's Declarations of Partnership and Fairness", Zena Elliott.
2023: "Scenes from a Victorian Restaurant", Tawhai Rickard.
2022: "Red Handed", Emma Hercus.
2021: "Palmolive", Caryline Boreham.
2019: "Nana’s Birthday (A Big Breath)", Ayesha Green (Kaai Tahu, Ngaati Kahungunui).
2018: "You and Me.The Weight of History", Sarah Ziessen.
2017: "The Meaning of Ethics", Kim Pieters.
2016: "Good Kisser", Sorawit Songsataya.
2015: "Pioneer City Flag", Bronwyn Holloway-Smith.
2014: "Tell Someone if Something Happens", Deanna Dowling.
2013: "Morrison Drive, Hobsonville 23 November 2012", Dieneke Jansen.
2012: "Parallel of Life and Art", Michael Parr and Blaine Western.
2011: "Blue Poles", Andre Hemer.
2010: "Lozenge of Dawn Paper", Locust Jones.
2009: "Collateral In-situ installation by WM Staff by Proxy", Dane Mitchell.
2008: "Untitled", Patrick Lundberg.
2007: "Resonance", Boris Dornbusch.
2006: "A Library to Scale, Part II, Marshland Hill, F.B. Butler Collection, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth", Ann Shelton.
2005: "Nightfall", Sriwhana Spong.
2004: "Blind Date", Geoffrey Heath, "Lest We Forget", Donna Sarten, "Honeycomb Reticulum", Joanna Chow.
2003: "To the Moon and Back", Rohan Weallans.
2002: "Hyperreal Toolbox for the Reinvention of a Transglobal Empire in a Parallel Universe", Dave Stewart.
2001: "Perfect Pitch (detail)", Daniel Malone.
2000: "The Oval", Gavin Hipkins.