Opportunity
Let your little adventurer experience art through play...
The Art Awards are one of Queensland’s most prestigious regional art events and is eagerly anticipated each year. 2025 will mark the 50th anniversary of The Martin Hanson Memorial Art Awards.
Calling for submissions - 14 to 18 October 2025
GRAGM Closed for Installation - 20 October to 7 November
Exhibition Opens – 10am, Saturday 8 November 2025
Judge’s Floor Talk & Illustrated Lecture - 10.30am, Saturday 8 November 2025
Official Opening and Awards Presentation - 6pm, Saturday 8 November 2025
QAL People’s Choice Awards Voting - from 10am, 8 November 2025
Exhibition Closes - 2pm, Saturday 7 February 2026
Collection of Works - 9 to 14 February 2026
Can be viewed in the 2025 Brochure at the bottom of this page.
Dr Simon Degroot Program Director, Visual Arts at Queensland College of Art & Design Griffith University and visual artist.
He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around Australia and completed large-scale mural installations in Brisbane, Sydney, and Perth. In his work, Simon explores the possibilities of everyday surfaces in our environment in their historical and social dimensions through painting, with particular focus on the history of abstraction and architectural detail in Australian suburban contexts.
Simon's work is held in public and private collections including Artbank Australia, Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, Lyon Housemuseum Melbourne, and Moreton Bay Regional Council Art Collection. He is represented by This Is No Fantasy Gallery, Melbourne; and Jan Manton Gallery, Brisbane.
history of the awards
Since its inauguration in 1976, the Art Awards have become one of Queensland’s most prestigious regional art events and is eagerly anticipated each year.
Martin Hanson (1923-1976) was a popular and highly-respected local businessman who was Member for Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Port Curtis 1963-1976, and patron to the Gladstone Artists Club. As a tribute to his patronage, in conjunction with the Hanson family, the Gladstone Artists Club held the first Martin Hanson Memorial Art Awards and Exhibition in 1976.
The Gladstone Regional Art Gallery & Museum became the custodian of the Art Awards in 1993.