Enjoy, celebrate, critique, be challenged and inspired by the 2024 Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Exhibition.

Presented by Arts Whakatāne and exhibition partner Whakatāne Libraries and Galleries, this annual non-acquisitive award is dedicated to excellence across contemporary and traditional painting, drawing and 3D genres. The award has developed over 30 years and sits credibly within the New Zealand arts community. 

A high standard of work is selected to form the exhibition from nationwide entries by three independent pre-selection judges. 

For participants, the MMCA offers professional development opportunities to artists by showcasing their practice to peers, collectors, critics, museum curators, the media and the community at large. 

Visit 

View the exhibition at Te Kōputu a te Whanga a Toi, 49 Kākāhoroa Drive, Whakatāne. 

Monday-Friday: 9am-5pm 

Saturday: 10am-2pm 

Awards 

The Molly Morpeth Canaday Major Award - $10,000
The Akel Award Runner Up - $4,000
The Craigs Investment Partners Youth Award  - $2,500
The Mayor's Prize  - $1,500
Robinson Law Highly Commended Award - $1,500
Merit Award sponsored by Our Place Magazine - Three page feature in OPM ($3,500)
Merit Award sponsored by Gordon Harris - $500 product
Merit Award sponsored by Frames by Daniel - $500 product
Merit Award sponsored by 4Artsake Gallery, Ōhope
People's Choice Award sponsored by Whakatāne Society of Arts and Crafts and Anne Tolley- $500

2024 Finalists

George Agius, Feilding  - Pillow Talk
Megan Archer, Auckland  - Fantasy Flesh
Simon Attwooll, Wellington  - The things we choose to wear
Debbie Barber & Jules Turner, Auckland  - Still Lives
Macarena Bernal, Auckland  - Molotov Cocktail
Constanza Briceno, Papamoa  - Artifacts: my dad's inventions
Elijah Broughton, Wellington - Seed
David Brown, Wellington - AR 2023-174/1xHen
Kara Burrowes, Christchurch - Peripheral Haze
Oliver Cain, Auckland - Fruit Bowl Noir
Elliot Collins, Taranaki - One Million, Two Hundred Forty-four Thousand and Three Hundred Acres
Elliot Collins, Taranaki - Did you get the watercress I left you?
Jimi Colzato, Tauranga - Untitled 001
Linda Cook, Dunedin - Bodements of Becoming
Marion Courtillé, Napier  - I love your guts III
Bridgit Day, Whangarei - Green on Green
Jennie De Groot, Hamilton - OK, Boomer
Jennie De Groot, Hamilton - Cold Comfort
Akiko Diegel, Auckland - The victory of little broken wings
Donna Dinsdale, Te Puke - 1838
Leslie Falls, Havelock North - "For what it's worth" Postcard advice
James R Ford, Wellington - Finitude (BSCL2)
Wesley John Fourie, Port Chalmers - Ray of Light (Genesis)
Hemaima Gardner, Whakatāne - Whānau of Light
Sandy Gaskell, Whitianga - Mō Te Aroha Ki Te Whenua
Wanda Gillespie, Auckland - Counting Frames for a Transient Era
Tony Guo, Auckland - Stale
Natalie Holland, Wellington - In the shadow of the maunga a kātene starts to bloom
Paige Jansen, Lyttelton - Lattice Breath
Madison Kelly, Dunedin - Tautiaki Splash
Claudia Kogachi, Auckland - Beluga whales swimming in the air
Skye Lu, Auckland - Stranded #1
Rose Meyer, Auckland - home/space
Jane Molloy-Wolt, Kerikeri - It was a sad day when I left Loppersum.
Jane Molloy-Wolt, Kerikeri - My Father's Journey
Cam Munro, Ōtaki  - Labyrinth
Lisa Passmore, Waihi - Cliabh
Ming Ranginui, Wellington - Till the clock strikes 5
Claudia Recorean, Westport - Canary Theory
Clark Roworth, Wellington - Skew
Moniek Schrijer, Wellington - Michelangelo
Taarn Scott, Auckland - At the Altar (shrine series), 2023
Karen Sewell, Auckland - Stardust (from my back yard), 2023
Liz Sharek, Auckland - Reef
Louann Siddon, Christchurch - Bibelot
Daphne Simons, Auckland - Meet Venus
Rowan Thomson & Peter Derksen, Auckland - Transmutation (drift)
Adele Tierney, Whakatāne - Te Waharoa - the narrow door
Debbie Tipuna, Tauranga - Adornment
Anna Turnbull, Christchurch - Make-up, Makeup
George Turner, Wellington - Gorse in my Shoe (2023)
Kate van der Drift, Raglan - Esk River I (after Gabrielle)
Charette van Eekelen, Christchurch - Breathing in Spring
Charette van Eekelen, Christchurch - Big Magic
Janna van Hasselt, Christchurch - Condition Report
Ruth Vickers, Tauranga - Dust
Sonja Walker, Nelson - Everything but...the bowl
Tim Wigmore, Ōmata - Tahi
Llyr Williams, Wellington - The Belisha Beacon
TM Wootten, Auckland - All For A Scrap Of Paper #1
Bonnie Wroe, Wellington - Lucy
Georgina Young, Dunedin - Pikipiki
Jonghyun Yun, Whakatāne - A Dollar Fifty