Castlemaine Art Museum is pleased to announce the finalists for this iteration of the Len Fox Painting Award, a legacy continued from the generous bequest of Mona Fox to commemorate the life and work of Emanuel Phillips Fox. This aquisitive award recognises the history of CAM's collection while celebrating the future with the talent of contemporary painters nationwide.
From a pool of over three hundred and fifty entries, our esteemed judges Rebecca Coates and Angela Hesson deliberated to select forty one finalists engaging with the interests of E.P Fox in the present day.

The finalists are:
Adrian Corke, Alec Baker and Eric Barney, Kirsty Budge, Ella Dunn, Belinda Fox, Jemi Gale, Bryella Garmanjan Farrell, Camille Hannah, Ash Keating, Anthea Kemp, Natalie Mather, Kate McKenzie Lewis, Jeff McNeill, Elizabeth Nelson, Sally Ross, Sarah Tomasetti, Kate Tucker, Deborah Walker, Stefan Wirihana Mau, Rhett D'Costa, Mark Dober, Ben Fennessy, Peter Graham, Marion Harper, Euan Heng, Amanda Johnson, Fumikazu Kubota, Donna Lougher, Kerry Madawyn McCarthy, David McBurney, Angela Mezzatesta, Grant Nimmo, Stieg Persson, David Ralph, Steven Rendall, Kathryn Ryan, Kate Shaw, Andrew Taylor, Ross Taylor, Helen S Tiernan and Michael Vale.

Congratulations to our finalists! And to all who entered the award, CAM recognises the time and energy that artists give to this process and we thank you, we cannot do this without you.

Exhibition runs from 11 December 2026 until 14 March 2027.
The opening event and prize announcement will take place on Friday 11 December.