The Dobell Prize for drawing, held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, was the highest prize for drawing in Australia. The prize had previously been held in conjunction with the Archibald Prize, Sulman Prize, Wynne Prize, around the early part of the year, but was moved in 2003 to being held around August or September.
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The prize was initiated by the Trustees of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation. In 2003, the prize money was $20,000. This was increased to $25,000 in 2009. The Dobell Prize was an acquisitive award, with the gallery keeping past winners in the permanent collection. There were 685 entrants in the first year of the prize, in 1993, of which only 34 were exhibited, and there were similar numbers in following years.
At the presentation of the 2012 Dobell Drawing Prize it was announced the prize would close as an open entry drawing prize, to be replaced by a curated biennial drawing show/award to be named the Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial
List of winners
Additional works acquired
The Dobell Trustees occasionally buy some of the works which have not won the main prize but have been exhibited, or they acquire them for other reasons, such as: