National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award


The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award is Australia's longest running Indigenous art award. Established in 1984 by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin, the annual award is commonly referred to as the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, the Telstra Award or Telstra Prize. It is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working in all media.

History

The NATSIAA was established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award. Telstra has sponsored the awards since 1992.
In 2000, the prize money for the main award was doubled from $20,000 to $40,000. It was increased to $50,000 in 2014, making it the largest prize for any Indigenous art award.
There have also been two travelling exhibitions, in 2000 and 2003, enabling up to 50 selected works to be shown in regional galleries around Australia.

Categories

There are five categories of awards: