North Queensland Ceramic Awards winner announced

Melbourne ceramicist Emma J V Parker has won the $10,000 City of Townsville Art Collection Award at this year’s North Queensland Ceramic Awards.

The British-born ceramic artist’s self-portrait in porcelain titled Lost won the top gong after the competition was judged by Paul Davis this month.

Ms Parker said taking out the exhibition’s major prize felt “so unbelievable”.

“I originally joined Instagram just before I moved to Australia to see what the Australian ceramics scene was like, and the North Queensland Ceramics Award just kept cropping up, and I realised it was quite a prestigious award,” she said.

“You enter a competition like this to exhibit your work first and foremost. Because this is such a prestigious award I knew that the other entrants’ work would be of a very high calibre, so if you exhibit next to these makers it elevates your work too. Just being a finalist felt like a huge win.

“As a ceramicist you work in isolation all the time, so you hope what you’re making is a worthy thing, but when you send the piece off for the first time it could totally bomb. Becoming a finalist was a signal that this work has meant something to someone, and that’s the whole point.”

Lost will join the City of Townsville Art Collection alongside prior North Queensland Ceramic Award winners.

“I’m making Australia my home, so to be in a collection like that really makes me feel like me and my work are a little part of the history of the collection and a small representation of Australian ceramics. It’s so special,” Ms Parker said.

She said the piece was inspired by Australia’s dense bushland and the oral histories surrounding bush mythologies.

“In the UK you talk about the countryside, and it’s agricultural. It’s not the same here. I’m very interested in learning about plants and animals in Australia – it’s very apparent that you need to be very respectful of nature here because it has an agency of its own,” she said.

“I did a course with Amy Kennedy, who is an art mentor, and it was about 20 minutes of asking yourself questions like ‘what’s the worst thing someone could say about your work?’. I thought the worst thing would be if someone said my work was derivative, although in a way everything is inspired by something else. But then I thought that if I start with myself, I’m going straight to the source, so I started making self-portraits.

“When I’m making self-portraits, it feels like I’m being as honest as I can be.

“When you’re a performer on a stage you can see the reaction of your audience immediately, but as a ceramicist you can stand next to someone looking at your work who doesn’t know that you made it. That makes self-portraiture feel a little safer.”

Councillor Liam Mooney extended his congratulations to Ms Parker on her win.

“The North Queensland Ceramic Awards are highly competitive and it’s fantastic to see such a unique and moving piece named as the 2026 winner. Well done to Emma, all of our other winners, and to all the finalists on such a fantastic exhibition,” Cr Mooney said.

To see the full list of finalists and their artworks, visit the North Queensland Ceramic Awards website.

2026 North Queensland Ceramic Awards winners

• City of Townsville Art Collection Award – Emma J V Parker, Lost
• EV2 Sportswear Award – Geoff Thomas, Anagama Jar
• Rainford Family Award – Fliss Dodd, Stronger Together
• Highly commended – Darian Duan, The Blue Opening | Diane Quick, Autobiographical Delirium | Jenna Catchpole, Mum and Me: 19 years with, 19 years without