National Arts and Disability Awards
Key dates
Nominations close: Tuesday 8 July 2025 (3pm AEST)
Amount
Award for Established Artist: $50,000
Award for Early Career Artist: $20,000
Please note: We only accept applications through our online Application Management System. If you are using the system for the first time, you need to make an account (register) at least two days before the closing date.
About the awards
The Creative Australia National Arts and Disability Awards celebrate the work and achievements of d/Deaf artists and artists with disability. The Awards acknowledge the contribution these artists have made to the creative arts and cultural life of the nation.
- The National Arts and Disability Award (Established) celebrates the achievements of an established Australian artist whose outstanding and sustained contribution to their chosen field of arts practice over many years has been recognised nationally or internationally. The recipient of this award will receive $50,000.
- The National Arts and Disability Award (Early Career) recognises an Australian artist early in their practice who has made an outstanding contribution to their chosen field of practice. The recipients of this award will receive $20,000.
We will offer a second Early Career Award in 2025, with thanks to Creative Australia and its employees through the Workplace Giving program.
The Awards are decided by Creative Australia, informed by key industry advisors.
Eligibility
- These awards are for practicing artists who identify as d/Deaf and or living with disability.
- People cannot nominate themselves for the award.
- People who are nominated need to be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident.
- People can be nominated even if they have received a Creative Australia Award or National Indigenous Arts Award.
- You must have permission from the person you are nominating to share their personal details with us.
How to submit a nomination
Nominators must complete an online nomination form using our Application Management System. You must register an account if you do not already have one. It may take up to two business days for us to process your registration.
You may nominate more than one artist. However, each nomination must be submitted on a separate nomination form.
Once you have logged in:
- Select ‘Submit a Nomination’ from the left panel menu.
- Under ‘Awards’ select ‘Start a new award nomination’.
- Ensure you select the correct award from the list of options.
- Complete the fields and select answers using the dropdown menus.
- Upload any necessary support material.
- Select ‘Save’ once complete.
- If you are not ready to submit your nomination you can return to it through ‘Your Draft Applications’ in the left panel menu.
- When you are ready to submit your nomination, select ‘Submit’.
Support material
You must submit a CV or extended bio for the nominee (approx. 2 x A4 pages, or a link to a CV or bio on the nominee’s website).
You may submit up to two letters or statements of support (approx. 2 x A4 pages, or up to 5 minutes of audio / video).
Types of support material we accept
Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).
You can provide up to two URLs that link to content that is relevant to your nomination.
Please note:
- Do not supply any URLs that require users to log in or sign up to a platform.
- Do not provide links to applications that require users to log in or pay for access.
- If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected, please provide the password in the password field on the nomination form.
Other accepted file formats
If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your nomination in other formats, for example:
- video (MP4 and Windows Media)
- audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
- images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
- written material (Word and PDF).
We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post unless you have contacted us in advance to discuss your access needs. Please contact Artists Services if you have any questions about how to provide support material.
