The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize is an annual Australian portrait prize founded by Doug Moran in 1988, the year of Australia's Bicentenary. It is the richest portrait prize in the world with A$150,000 awarded to the winner. The prize is acquisitive; "the winning portrait immediately becomes the property of the Moran Arts Foundation, to be exhibited permanently as part of the Moran Arts Foundation Collection". The aim of the competition is to promote contemporary Australian portraiture and, as such, entry conditions stipulate that both the artist and their subject be an Australian citizen or resident for at least one year prior to the closing date for entries, however it is not required that the artist or the subject be well known. There was a court case in 2002–2004 involving the Moran family and the Tweed Shire Council, which ended with an out of court settlement. Following this, there was no longer a $1000 prize paid to the 30 finalists who did not win, and no longer an international judge. This has now changed back and finalists again receive $1,000.
The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize was set in motion in 2007 by the Moran Arts Foundation. This Prize is exhibited at the same time as the Portrait Prize and consists of three sections; Open, Secondary Schools and Primary Schools. Entrants are asked to interpret ‘Contemporary life in Australia’, with an emphasis on Australian's going about their day-to-day lives. There is a total prize pool of A$100,000, with $50,000 awarded to the winner of the Open division and $1,000 awarded to each of the 30 Finalists. The Secondary division is split into three sections; 7–8, 9–10 and 11–12. Each winner's school wins the same amount for the development of the arts at the school. The 30 finalists of the Primary division each receive a digital camera.
The Moran Arts Foundation Photography Workshop Program commenced in 2007 and is part of the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize. The free workshops are run by professional photographers at schools Australia wide. Each student is given a digital camera to work with for the day along with guidance from the professional photographer. Basic photography skills are taught along the theme of ‘Visual Storytelling’ and the student's print their favourite shots of the day. In 2015 there were 112 digital photography workshops across Australia in urban, rural and remote areas. Out of the 112 workshops 21 were held in remote areas.
Photographic Prize winners
Open Section
2007 – Ben Searcy – Waiting for News on David -Terry and Bev Hicks on the five-year anniversary of David's detainment
