Major Prize
The Major Prize is $20,000 and covers the commission of the proposed piece and its acquisition into the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection.
Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize
Australian jewellers and creative practitioners are invited to draw inspiration from the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection and apply for the inaugural Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize.
With an opportunity to be awarded one of three prizes – the Major Prize, First Peoples Prize and the Emerging Prize – jewellers and creative practitioners are invited to submit a creative response to the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection. Applications should detail a proposal for a piece of jewellery or adornment that addresses the complex role of gold in historical and contemporary Victoria.
Despite the breadth of the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection, many perspectives – particularly those of First Peoples – are conspicuously missing. The Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize seeks to remedy the absence of these narratives by inviting contemporary retellings of the Victorian gold story, including its environmental, scientific, cultural, political and social impacts.
While the collection focusses on the Victorian context, applications are welcomed from jewellers and creative practitioners from across Australia, where the extraction and use of gold has been similarly impactful. Applications are not necessarily required to incorporate material gold but must critically engage with the gold story’s key themes.
Prize Categories
- Major Prize – $20,000
- First Peoples Prize – $15,000
- Emerging Prize – $8,000
Each prize awarded covers the commission of the proposed piece and its acquisition into the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection.
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To apply for the Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize, submit a completed application form, an up-to-date CV and a visual representation of the proposed creation to [email protected].
Applications open: 9am Monday 12 May 2025
Applications close: 5pm Sunday 31 August 2025Prize applications will be reviewed by a panel of Museums Victoria curatorial staff to determine finalists in each prize category. Finalists will be judged by a panel of industry experts chaired by Senior Curator, History of Collections Rebecca Carland to select the winners in each category.
Finalists notified: Thursday 2 October 2025
Winners announced: Thursday 16 October 2025Judging Panel:
- Rebecca Carland (chair), senior curator, History of Collections, Museums Victoria.
- Mark Edgoose (judge), senior lecturer and coordinator of undergraduate studies, gold and silversmithing at RMIT University
- Kimberley Moulton (judge), adjunct curator of Indigenous art at the TATE Modern; senior curator at RISING; curator emeritus, First Peoples, Museums Victoria
Applications will be judged against three broad criteria:
- Quality of concept
- Design excellence
- Proposed craftsmanship
Applicants in each prize category will be offered unique access to the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection along with insights and support from Museums Victoria staff.
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Prize applicants can explore the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection via the Museums Victoria Collections Online page, which contains detailed photography of the collection’s most intricate pieces.
To facilitate a deeper response to the collection’s physical and thematic components, viewings of the collection will be available to interested prize applicants at Melbourne Museum on 31 May and 21 June.
Viewing dates and times can be booked here:
Please email [email protected] regarding accessibility requirements.
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The State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection is one of the most significant public collections of Victorian goldfields jewellery. Comprising nearly 400 exquisite pieces worn or made between 1790 and 1980, it represents one of the most diverse collections of gold jewellery and accessories sourced and smithed across Victoria.
Interwoven with stories of everyday life, the collection narrates tales of migration, the gold rush, colonisation, federation, WWI and WWII, fashion evolution, the Great Depression, the women’s suffrage movement, industrial strides, and the profound influence of the Australian environment.
The collection not only reflects the history, use and allure of gold across diverse eras, it also reveals impacts on First Peoples Country, communities and culture. Historically, gold mining has had a devastating impact on Country and First Peoples communities across Australia. The State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection contains stories, objects and resources tied to the extraction of gold from Country, and the prize welcomes applications that explore these challenging experiences.
First Peoples Prize
The First Peoples Prize is $15,000 and covers the creation of the proposed piece and its acquisition into the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection.
The Emerging Prize
The Emerging Prize is $8,000 and covers the commission of the proposed piece and its acquisition into the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection.
The Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize has been made possible thanks to the support of donors including Diana Morgan AM, Ian Armstrong OAM and Mary Armstrong.