Nominations open Monday 21 September 2026
The Access Arts Achievement Award acknowledges and celebrates the impact of an outstanding disabled and/or d/Deaf artist or arts worker based in Queensland. This $10,000 award recognises artistic excellence, disabled and d/Deaf leadership, and risk-taking, powerful and innovative work.
Artists can self-nominate or be nominated by someone who knows them and their work – a mentor, fellow artist, manager, presenting partner or arts organisation. The winner is then carefully selected by a panel of judges from Access Arts and the wider arts industry. A $10,000 prize is awarded to the winner.
Nominate yourself, or nominate an artist you know.
Nominations Open for Submission:
FREE Nomination-Writing Workshop:
Nominations Close for Submission:
Award Winner Announced:
Monday, 21 September 2026
Thursday, 15 October 2026
Friday, 30 October 2026
Thursday, 3 December 2026
Nominations open for submission:
Monday, 21 September 2026
Free online Nomination-Writing Workshop:
Thursday, 15 October 2026
Nominations close for submission:
Friday, 30 October 2026
Award Winner announced:
Thursday, 3 December 2026
21 September – 30 October 2026
Download the application form as a word document below or apply online
OR
Download the application guidelines as a word document below
Join us for a free one-hour online workshop on Thursday, 15 October 2026, 12.00pm–1.00pm on Teams, designed to support nominations for the 2026 Access Arts Achievement Award.
Learn how to put together a strong nomination, meet the selection criteria, and prepare supporting materials – including the nominee’s approved photograph. Includes Q&A time.
This workshop is open to Queensland-based d/Deaf and disabled artists, arts workers and producers, and to anyone wishing to nominate one.
Our 2025 winner, Kim ‘Busty Beatz’ Bowers is a renowned Music Director, Composer, Sound Designer, Writer, Poet and Performance Maker who has created fearless, genre-shifting work for more than 30 years. Of Xhosa, Chinese and Indonesian heritage and based on Yuggera Country in Brisbane, she is known for crafting powerful sonic worlds that bridge music, theatre, activism and community.
Her new project, Confessions of The Brutally Blessed, will explore disability, neurodivergence, Black Femmehood, body sovereignty and ancestral memory through poetry, sound and live performance. With the support of collaborators such as Inala Wangarra, Polytoxic and Quiet Riot Creative, Kim will use the Award to undertake a key creative development phase that integrates access design and sensory storytelling from the outset.
Michael’s incredible journey includes over 20 years as a founding member and leader of the Brotherhood of the Wordless, a group of non-speaking writers and creatives. Through his leadership and facilitation of workshops, Michael has inspired countless individuals to explore and express their creativity.
The winning project, About a Boy, is a deeply moving multi-art form performance inspired by Michael’s poetry collection of the same name. This project will enable the script development of About a Boy in collaboration with dramaturg and playwright Ian Brown. Together, they will select and interpret poems from the collection to create a script that will be brought to life through a rehearsed reading featuring a group of performers.
Click on any of the names below to learn more about the artist and their achievements:
