Northern Beaches Council has revealed the winner of the 2026 Environmental Art & Design Prize (EADP).
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins said, with the Environmental Art & Design Prize now in its sixth year, the Prize continues to grow, and submissions continue to challenge and inspire.
“This year’s winners are outstanding examples of how art and design can spark important conversations about sustainability, climate change and our shared responsibility to care for the natural world.
“I congratulate all the winners and finalists, and encourage everyone to visit the exhibition, be inspired by these remarkable works and have their say in the People’s Choice Award.”
Winners
Art
Winner: Scott Duncan ($20,000)
Work: Choice Quality – earthenware, glaze, underglaze, nylon and timber, 200x65x38cm
Scott Duncan’s practice embraces an experimental approach to ceramics, combining salvaged moulds, upcycled and handmade tools.
Referencing everyday packaging materials such as fruit box cardboard, this work reflects on cycles of consumption, waste and renewal. Handmade beads from waste clay and custom surface treatments to create a collage-like visual language. Textural contrasts shift between rough industrial surfaces and lustrous finishes reminiscent of Italian Bitossi and Bendigo Pottery, highlighting tensions between mass production and handmade permanence.
Through retro forms and figurative sculptures inspired by antique paper dolls, Duncan explores memory, materiality and sustainability, inviting reflection on environmental responsibility and our relationship with the natural world.
Bio: Scott Duncan is a Sydney-based ceramicist whose whimsical practice reconstructs traditional ceramic forms through references to mid-century design, antiquity and food culture. A chef by trade, Duncan layers and moulds clay like pastry, creating works that mimic cardboard, chewing gum, fruit and nostalgic sweets while challenging conventional ideas of ceramics. His handmade chalks, pencils and sculpted ceramic labels evoke the aesthetics of Bitossi Ceramiche and Scheurich pottery with playful pareidolic detail. Duncan was a featured artist at Sydney Contemporary (2022), a finalist in the Wollongong Art Prize (2025) and the Fishers Ghost Art Award (2024) and completed a major commission for the opening of ACE Hotel Sydney. His work is held in the Artbank collection and he is represented by Arthouse Gallery, Sydney.
Judges’ comments:
Scott Duncan’s unique visual language and experimental approach is, at first glance, playful. But beneath its humour lies a deeply considered reflection on the state of the environment today. By transforming and elevating everyday forms, the artist explores the interconnections of agriculture, memory and material culture. Choice Quality looks us straight in the eye, meeting us with familiarity and great warmth while also confronting us with deep questions.
Design
Winner: Nahum McLean, Stefan Lie and Ben Styles ($20,000)
Work: The Motherboard – foam made from waste Kombucha SCOBY, sawdust and lignin. MotherBoard is constructed using SCOBY foam, paulownia timber stringers, flax cloth and bio-epoxy resin, 200x54x8cm
The Motherboard responds to a long-standing tension within surfing: its deep dependence on pristine coastal ecosystems alongside the environmental harm embedded in the petrochemical materials used to produce surfboards and accessories.
The Motherboard envisions a future where surf craft are made from biodegradable, locally sourced materials which are less reliant on non-renewable resources. It pushes the boundaries of biobased material research by developing a cellulose foam and surfboard prototype, an object that requires specific material properties of density, strength and shapeability. The surfboard is crafted from foam created with SCOBY, a by-product of the Kombucha brewing industry. The SCOBY was diverted from landfill and combined with other cellulose-based ingredients to create a 100% biodegradable foam alternative.
Bio: We are designers, researchers and surfers who develop innovative materials from diverse waste streams. Our design practice integrates design, science, and molecular gastronomy, with a particular interest in the use of next-generation bio-derived polymers as an alternative to petrochemicals.
We work in the Material Ecologies Design Lab at UTS, our focus is working with bio-based materials, and materials recovered from waste streams. We transform these resources into materials and prototypes applications that support circularity. During material development, emphasis is placed on mapping production processes into existing infrastructure to maximise industry uptake.
Judges’ comments:
This was probably the hardest judging event I have experienced! The level of works was exceptional. This work stands out because it is pushing the practice of Product Design in a way that has a life beyond the object. The exploration of a new material which is used in this product has the potential to make impact in many other areas. Beyond materiality, the object itself is designed masterfully and exceptionally, accompanied by a great vision of the future. Congrats team!
Young Artists 7-12 years
Winner: Margot Wrightson ($1,000)
Work: Gang Gang – clay and feathers, 30x10x10cm
Margot chose to make a Gang-gang cockatoo because it is endangered. She learnt about endangered animals at school. Margot likes it’s distinctive call, pattern that it’s feathers make and it’s beautiful colours. She would be very sad if it became extinct.
Judges’ comments:
A very creative response and beautifully made work, in response to the endangered gang-gang cockatoo. What a spectacular artwork of a Gang-gang cockatoo! These are such inquisitive & characterful birds, now endangered since the 2019/2020 bushfires. Margot has captured their unique beauty & reminded us to find joy in the world around us and fiercely protect our vulnerable wildlife for future generations.
Young artists 13-18 years
Winner: Elsa Gong ($2,000)
Work: What We Keep – mixed media assemblage using acrylic paint and found plastic toys on canvas, 61.3x58x6.5cm
From afar, this artwork appears to depict animals in a natural environment, but closer inspection reveals depictions and figurines of plastic animal toys.
The discarded children’s toys reflect how society shapes our understanding of nature from an early age, with artificial, plastic versions of animals becoming objects of comfort, play and nostalgia. The irony of the toys imitating the very creatures they contribute to destroying creates discomfort, causing the familiar objects to appear invasive.
Price tags further objectify the animals, reducing them to collectible objects and transactions, reinforcing the idea of nature as replaceable from birth. The contrast between childhood innocence and environmental degradation questions what humanity has chosen to preserve – immortal plastic replicas or the fragile reality of the natural world.
Judges’ comments:
This is a beautifully executed painting that immediately draws you in. Conceptually clever, it playfully reminds us of our responsibility as consumers. It asks us to value the natural world that inspires and sustains so much of our lives. It’s a thoughtful exploration of the complexity of our times. Memorable and deeply relevant.
This is conceptually and technically exceptional work. An artwork that immediately makes the viewers feel something, beyond its aesthetic. The use of materials to literally remind us of the deeply rooted, commodified thinking about the natural world from an early age is clever. Well done, Elsa!
Highly Commended:
Isabella Niu
Work: The Guardian Below – watercolour on paper, 37x52cm
My artwork shows a giant chameleon carrying a small city on its back. A chameleon changes and adapts to its environment, just like humans should learn to live more gently with nature. I imagined a world where cities and nature exist in balance instead of against each other. Through this artwork, I wanted to show that even modern human life still quietly depends on the natural world beneath it.
This year’s winning works explore waste, sustainability and our connection to the natural world, from experimental ceramics and biodegradable surfboard design to powerful youth artworks about endangered wildlife and plastic pollution.
Meet the artists
The exhibition of the winners’ and finalists’ works opened on 7 August at Manly Art Gallery & Museum and Curl Curl Creative Space and closes on 20 September 2026. The exhibition offers visitors the chance to experience diverse creative interpretations of environmental themes and supports ongoing dialogue about sustainability in the arts.
The People’s Choice Award invites the public to vote for their favourite entries, with voting open until Wednesday 16 September and winners announced on Friday 18 September. This initiative empowers visitors to take part in the celebration of creative talent and environmental advocacy.
The difficult task of judging the works was undertaken by acclaimed visual artist Laura Jones, and designer and educator Nila Rezaei.
There is also an opportunity to meet and chat with the artists and designers on 22 August and 5 September. Please RSVP for these free events.
Meet the Young Artists & Designers
Curl Curl Creative Space
Sat 22 Aug 2026, 2pm RSVP
Meet the Artists & Designers
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
Sat 5 Sept 2026, 2pm RSVP
Environmental Art & Design Prize is presented by Northern Beaches Council and foundation sponsor Colormaker Industries along with event sponsor Kimbriki Environmental Enterprises.
Prize money is 80 per cent funded through application fees and sponsorship.
View this year’s finalists and explore their works here.
