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The theme for this year’s Boroondara Photography Competition is ‘‘Hidden Boroondara'.
The 2025 competition has closed, and we thank everyone who entered. There were hundreds of entries, and these photographs will be added to our extensive Boroondara Heritage Collection, which is a valuable resource for Boroondara family and local history researchers.
We are pleased to announce the award winners for 2025 below. All award-winning photographs are displayed in the Hidden Boroondara Exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery until 9 August 2025.
2025 winners
Young Photographers Competition
| Section | First prize | Second prize | Third prize | Highly commended | Highly commended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary school age | Rainbow Park Sandra Luu | The Weight of Stone, the Lightness of Form Ethan Lee | Fine Thread Tess McGowan | The Secret Beauty of Boroondara Alexander Lam | The Future of a Cat Asher Nguyen |
| Secondary school age | Feathered Harmonies Luca Iakovidis | All Souls Chapel Star Trails Jason Li | The Silence Surrounded by Hustle Nicholas Walmsley | Moonlight Albert Kemp | Admire the View Bach Tran |
Open Photograph Competition
| Section | First prize | Second prize | Third prize | Highly commended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Boroondara Today Category Photograph taken from 2021 to 2024 | Behind the Blooms Arun Alexander | Saturday Morning Café Yuxin Yang | Aerial View of the Boroondara General Cemetery Looking West Towards the City Paul Feikema | Abandoned Benjamin Buratto |
Historical Category Photograph taken from the 1800’s to 2020 | Death of a Shopping Centre Phil Hawkins | Tree We Love Kai O’Yang | Old and New in Tooronga Phil Hawkins |
Best in competition winner
The ‘Best in Competition’ winner for 2025 is Arun Alexander for his photograph ‘Behind the Blooms’ Arun will receive a one-on-one masterclass with educator, author and award-winning professional photographer, Craig Wetjen.
Image credit: Open Competition, Boroondara Today, First Place and Best in Competition winner: Arun Alexander, 'Behind the Blooms', 2024.
People’s Choice Award
Visitors to the Town Hall Gallery exhibition 'Hidden Boroondara' have voted for their favourite photograph in the Boroondara Photography Competition 2025. All visitors were invited to cast one vote.
After the votes were compiled and counted by the Town Hall Gallery team the photograph chosen by the exhibition visitors is Luca Iakovidis for his photograph 'Feathered harmonies'.
Congratulations Luca!
Image credit: Secondary School Age, Young Photographers Competition First Place and People's Choice Winner: Luca Iakovidis, ‘Feathered harmonies', 2024.
Categories
There are 2 competition categories:
- Young photographers competition – for young people of school age (up to 18 years old on 1 January 2025). Primary school and Secondary school entries will be judged separately. Parents, guardians and teachers can enter on behalf of a young person.
- Open photographers competition – open to individuals of all ages. Historical and Boroondara Today photograph entries will be judged separately.
You can submit up to 10 entries in each category that you are eligible to enter. You will need to fill in an entry form for each photograph submitted.
All eligible competition entries will be added to our Local History Photograph collection available in our library catalogue.
Prizes
Young photographers competition
For primary school photographers:
- First prize is $150 and an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
- Second and third prize and highly commended is an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
For secondary school photographers (years 7–12 and young people not in secondary school, aged 15 to 18 years as of 1 January 2024):
- First prize is $150 and an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
- Second and third prize and highly commended is an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
Open photographers competition
For historical photographs taken in Boroondara from 1800 to 2021:
- First prize is $150 and an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
- Second and third prize and highly commended is an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
For photographs taken in Boroondara from 2022 to 2025:
- First prize is $150 and an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
- Second and third prize and highly commended is an exhibition-quality print of the photograph.
Best in competition winner
The overall winner will receive a one-on-one masterclass with educator, author and award-winning professional photographer, Craig Wetjen.
People’s Choice Award
All winning and highly commended photographs will be entered into the ‘People’s Choice’ award. The prize is $100 and inclusion in the ‘Hidden Boroondara’ exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery.
More information and resources
For more information, email [email protected] to contact the Boroondara Photograph Competition team.
View the 2025 Boroondara Photograph Competition entry winners.
Boroondara Photography competition entries can be viewed in the Boroondara Heritage Collection