Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize
Set in the Queensland Sunshine Coast Hinterland, the Wootha Prize is a national woodworking competition celebrating outstanding artistic excellence in timber. Extending beyond an artisan award, it fosters deeper connections with Australia’s unique environment and Indigenous culture.
Wootha Prize 2027
Shaping Regeneration
The works for the Sunshine Coast Wootha prize 2027 exhibition would consider timber not as a finite resource, but as a living continuum. Wood is not static, it remembers, adapts, and begins again.
Building on this theme, Barung Landcare would like to encourage community dialogue and deepen public connection with its environmental restoration and regeneration work.
We encourage work that considers ‘weed’ woods as a material source.
Shaping Regeneration invites makers to create work that actively restores ecological and material systems through sourcing, lifecycle, function, and narrative. Submissions should demonstrate how materials, processes, and design can contribute to regeneration, whether through the reuse of overlooked resources, practices that honour ecological systems, or objects designed for longevity and evolving purpose. Regeneration may also be expressed through quieter gestures: forms that suggest new growth, surfaces that reveal hidden histories, or works that invite reflection, delight, and a sense of reverie. Together, these works remind us that renewal is not only a technical challenge, but a creative act.
Read more below about the 2026 prize categories and exhibition below.
2024 Overall Winner – ‘Monochrome Cabinet’ by Rick Hayward, image by Daniel Mulheran
With ongoing commitment from sponsors, the Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize is a truly prestigious national woodworking competition, attracting contemporary designers and innovative craftspeople in the promotion of the sustainable use of our beautiful native timbers.
Winning and finalist pieces are exhibited in the stunning Glass House at Montvale, in the Hinterland town of Montville.
If you would like to join our existing small team to manage and design the 2027 Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize, please see further details and our Volunteer Expression of Interest form on our volunteering page.
Prize Categories
This year’s 2026 Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize is open themed with finalists aligning with the prize’s ethos “Sustainable by Nature, Beautiful by Design”. Works have been entered are under the categories of Furniture, Sculpture and Tiny Treasures.
William Bayliss
Commemorative Prize
$10,000
Image: William Bayliss with his Bunyjul occasional table
2026 Winner
Pictured: Cam Burton (Barung Landcare), Tim Bayliss, Broc Cattley, Kym Bayliss, Barb Kelly (Barung Landcare)
Furniture
$2,500
The Furniture category rejoices in all aspects of furniture making, traditional and contemporary, design, artistry and innovation.
Proudly sponsored by
MCU Communities
2026 Winner
Sculpture
$2,500
The Sculpture category will highlight carving to its fullest extent from the delicate to the robust, abstract to representational.
Proudly sponsored by
Hinterland Business Centre Inc
2026 Winner
Tiny Treasures
$2,500
The ‘Tiny Treasures’ category celebrates works of smaller dimensions. It acknowledges work small in scale but big on design and craftspersonship -beautifully designed and exquisitely crafted.
Proudly sponsored by
Queensland Water and Land Carers
2026 Winner
People's Choice
$500
The entry most voted for by visitors across the entire exhibition.
Proudly sponsored by
Arbortech
2026 Winner
Wootha Prize Exhibition
Set high in the hinterland, the Glasshouse is a beautifully crafted timber-and-glass space built using reclaimed historic hardwoods — a venue that honours material, craftsmanship, and sustainability at its core. Surrounded by forest and flooded with natural light, it’s the perfect setting to celebrate some of Australia’s finest contemporary woodworking.
Across four days, the space transforms into a breathtaking exhibition showcasing the finalist works of this prestigious national prize. Visitors can experience the pieces up close, meet the makers, and attend engaging artist talks inside this remarkable, sustainable structure.
At the Exhibition
- World-class contemporary wood art
- Cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award
- “On the deck” – casual speakers program from 11am Saturday and Sunday. A series of informal talks about rainforest, habitat and working sustainably with timber
- Children’s Bird Call Face-Off challenge – Sunday from 11am
- Native Plant Stall – Barung Landcare
- Woodfired Pizza and bar open
The Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize is proud to be part of the Montville Timber Trail, a celebration of wood, landscape, and creative practice across Montville, QLD.
Montvalle at Montville
Images courtesy of the venue
Our Sponsors
Prize Category Sponsors
Major Donors
THE BAYLISS FAMILY
GREEN HILLS FUND
Donors
Evan Dunstone – Jan Townley – Liz Harper – Pru McPherson – Cleon Walters Robert Lewin – Nola Maybury – Paul Ryan – David Heywood – Helen Murray Mat and Anitra Buitendam – Kerrie MacDonald – Margaret Yarrow – Kylie Yarrow – Diana Brown – Sally Coyle – Peter Thompson – Fred Blake Richard Vaughan – Ben Adams – Barbara Kelly – Nicole and Joel Dooley Vaidehi Rajagopalan – Karen O’Neill – Corrie Wright
Read the latest Wootha Prize News
2024 Sunshine Coast Wootha Prize Winner - Rick Hayward
Hear about Rick’s creative background and prize-winning piece ‘Monochrome Cabinet’
2024 Sculpture Winner Kieth Savage shares some inspiration...
Read more about Keith’s journey into woodworking and a little behind his award-winning piece ‘Flow’ below.
2023 Furniture Winner Garan Hale says 'Give it a go'...
From the Northern Rivers in NSW, Garan tells us a little more about his journey into woodworking.
