Celebrating its thirtieth year, Mark Davis has won the $10,000 2026 Bald Archy Prize for Emperor Australis – a play on Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps, a stallion is swapped for a kangaroo, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese conquers the Australian landscape. Judy Nadin was named winner of the $2,000 2025 People’s Choice Award for Wild God.
Mark Davis, Emperor Australis, oil, 75 × 95cm. Winner of the 2026 Bald Archy Prize / Courtesy the artist and Wagga Wagga City Council, New South Wales
2026 finalists on show this month until 19 April at Arts Mansfield, Victoria then from 25 April to 24 May 2026 at National Cartoon Gallery, New South Wales.
