In 2009, the award was withheld when a new selection process for finalists (a change from application to invitation) resulted in what The Age newspaper called 'a disaster',[2] when an insufficient number of entries of good standard led to the withholding of the exhibition and award for that year. The trustees of the Helen Lempriere Bequest, Perpetual Private Wealth, announced in December 2009 that the award would no longer be made. Rather than being organised under its own auspices at Werribee Park, the award would instead be absorbed into the Sydney-based Sculpture by the Sea award.
The 2010 scholarships
On 23 December 2009, David Knowles of Perpetual Private Wealth announced that the new manager of the Lempriere award would be the Sculpture by the Sea organisation,[3] and that in 2010, the award would comprise three A$30,000 scholarships for sculptors.
Exhibition
Until the award's restructuring in 2009, an exhibition of the finalists was held each year in the grounds of Werribee Park, Werribee, Victoria, Australia. The award was acquisitive, and winners were brought into the collection displayed along the Sculpture Walk at Werribee Park. The local government authority, Wyndham City Council, would also purchase works for deployment as sculptural installations in the municipality.[4] The future of the collection at Werribee Park remains unresolved; Perpetual Private Wealth has announced a separate review.[5]
2016
Jennifer Turpin (NSW), operation crayweed
Geoffrey Bartlett (VIC), embrace
Hanna Hoyne (ACT), cosmic trumpet & embrace 2
Norton Flavell (WA), just another
2015
Orest Keywan (NSW), and the ship sails on (with apologies to f.f.)
Dale Miles (NSW), parallel thinking space
Samantha Small (ACT), stalemate Mk II
2014
Elaine Clocherty, gamma gamma – storm
Jock Clutterbuck, oceania cartouche
Koichi Ishino, wind stone – the threshold of consciousness
2013
Lucy Humphrey, horizon
Francesca Matagara, a to b
Paul Selwood, the museum
2012
Lou Lambert, red herring
Philip Spelman, tête à tête
Tom de Munk-Kermeer, luchtkasteel
2011
Alessandra Rossi, comfort zone
James Rogers, hokusai’s child
Marcus Tatton, the ruin
2010
David Horton, jarrett in london
Matthew Harding, centripetal
Michael Le Grand, anaconda
- 2001 (Inaugural prize) - Karen Ward, Hut
- 2002 - Nigel Helyer, Meta Diva
- 2003 - Gary Wilson, Untitled
- 2004 - Richard Goodwin, Prosthetic Apartment B
- 2005 - William Eicholtz, The Comrade's Reward
- 2006 - Alexander Knox, Death of a White Good
- 2007 - Julia Davis, Meniscii
- 2008 - Bob Jenyns, Pont de l'archeveche
- 2009 - Award withheld[6]