This online exhibition is open to Australian school students and home-schooled students aged from 4–18 years.
A schoolteacher or parent/carer/legal guardian may submit multiple portraits, with a limit of one portrait per child.
Any events or displays held in relation to this online exhibition should use the title My Awesome Australian and acknowledge the National Portrait Gallery and the Office of the Governor-General.
Portrait specifications
Submitted portraits can be a painting, drawing, sculpture or textile. Submitted portraits cannot be a photograph.
Portraits selected as finalists will not be physically exhibited at the Gallery.
SubmiSSIONS
Portraits must be submitted online by creating an account at portrait.gov.au/honoursanniversary and uploading digital images.
You can submit portraits for multiple children via a single account.
For each child you must submit one digital image of their portrait and provide the following information:
- name of the child
- name of the child's guardian and contact details
- title of the portrait
- name of the person depicted in the portrait
- an artist statement of 100 words or less by the child on why the person in the portrait is special, and what award (real or fictional) they would give them if they had the chance
- artistic medium (painting, drawing, sculpture, textile).
The digital image should be a jpg image file of high quality, at least 2400 pixels wide or tall with a file size of no more than 10MB. This image will be used for the online exhibition. If your portrait is on paper, please make sure it is flat and not creased, wavy or bent. When photographing the portrait please make sure that there is consistent lighting across the whole portrait, without shadows.
Portraits may be submitted from 14 February 2025.
The deadline for receipt of submissions is 5:00pm, Thursday 19 June 2025.
Permissions required
By submitting portraits to My Awesome Australian you confirm that you have permission from the parents/legal guardians of all people under the age of 18 who are either the artist or the subject of the portrait.
Online Exhibition
All portraits selected for the online exhibition will be displayed on the National Portrait Gallery website from 11 September 2025. Portraits will not be physically displayed at the Gallery.
Copyright and image use
Artists remain the copyright owner and retain intellectual property and moral rights in the portrait. By submitting a portrait, the artist grants to the Gallery, without conditions, an irrevocable, perpetual, world-wide, royalty free, non-exclusive licence to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish, communicate and supply to third parties, the image of the portrait for promotional, publicity, educational and administrative purposes of the Gallery.
