The annual Portage Ceramic Awards is New Zealand's premier ceramics event. Established in 2001, the awards are funded by The Trusts Charitable Foundation and administered by Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery (formerly Lopdell House Gallery). A national award, the Portage Ceramics Awards also acknowledge West Auckland's long history of ceramic practice, dating back to 1852.[1]
Entry is available to artists of New Zealand citizenship. The annual awards are judged each year by a different international judge, usually from the field of ceramics. An open call is made for entries, and since the third award onwards the judge has selected a group of finalists for exhibition. An exhibition is held at Te Uru and a publication produced. In 2020, due to complications from the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey exhibition of previous winners titled Portage 20/20 was presented in lieu of a competition.[2]
In 2013 two international residencies were announced as part of the awards: the Guldagergaard residency in Skaelskor, Denmark, awarded to Richard Stratton and a residency in Medalta, Medicine Hat, Canada, awarded to Melissa Ford.[3]
In 2014 a workshop scholarship to the Peters Valley School of Craft in New Jersey was awarded to Chris Weaver.[4]
| 2001 | Mitsuo Shoji | Tony Bond, Qumbilicums | Merit award: Chris Weaver; Waitākere artist award: Ted Dutch | ||
| 2002 | Michael Keighery | Richard Parker, Signals | Merit award: Kate Fitzharris; Waitākere artist award: Sanderson Kindleysides; Emergent artist award: Aidan Howse | ||
| 2003 | Julie Bartholomew | Penny Ericson, Six Days in a Southern Landscape | Merit award: Ann Verdcourt; Waitākere artist award: Susannah Bridges; Emergent artist award: Amanda Shanley | ||
| 2004 | Patsy Hely | Raewyn Atkinson, Cape Evans 2 | Merit award: John Roy; Waitākere artist award: Danny Rowlandson; Emergent artist award: Aya Sato | ||
| 2005 | Robert Bell | Merilyn Wiseman, Arctic Rim | Merit award: Helen Yau; Waitākere artist award: Claire Barton; Emergent artist award: Phillipa Durkin | ||
| 2006 | Bill Samuels | Peter Lange, Lilo | Merit awards: Owen Bartlett, Mark Mitchell; Waitākere artist award: Danny Rowlandson | ||
| 2007 | Jeff Shapiro | DeAnne Lawford-Smith, Keeping Quiet and Heart of Glass | Merit awards: Greg Barron, Tim Holman, Katherine Smyth, Onlie Ong; Waitākere artist award: John Parker | ||
| 2008 | Grace Cochrane | Matt McLean, Scaled Heights | Merit awards: Madeleine Child, Philipa Durkin, Tim Holman, Michael Michaels, Richard Parker, Helen Yau; Waitākere artist award: Sang Sool Shim & Keum Sun Lee | ||
| 2009 | Scott Chamberlin | Joint winners: Madeleine Child & Philip Jarvis, Doodads & Doodahs and Widespread Occurrence of Possible Symbioses / Jim Cooper, Drug Jars and Vendor | Merit awards: Phillipa Durkin, Emily Siddell, Kristy Palleson; Waitākere artist awards: Sang Sool Shim & Keum Sun Lee, John Parker | ||
| 2010 | Stephen Bowers | Kirsty Gardiner, Secrets A Jar | Merit awards: Greg Barron, Georgina Caulton, Kate Fitzharris, Melissa Ford, Rhonda Jameson, Duncan Shearer | ||
| 2011 | Janet Mansfield | Bridie Henderson, Feathers | Chris Weaver (second prize) | Merit awards: Brendan Adams, Maureen Allison, Kirsty Gardiner, Cheryl Oliver | |
| 2012 | Paul Scott | Jim Cooper, Millbrook Holiday (the league for spiritual discovery) | Merit awards: Kate McLean, Fran Maguire | ||
| 2013 | Amy Gogarty | Robert Rapson, Himalaya Serves The World 1949 - Early 70s | Mel Ford, Richard Stratton | Merit award: Marita Hewitt, Kim Henderson, Jane McCulla | |
| 2014 | Takeshi Yasuda | Louise Rive, The Space Between | Chris Weaver | Merit awards: Kate Fitzharris, Madeleine Child, Duncan Shearer, Frank Checketts | |
| 2015 | Ingrid Murphy | Raewyn Atkinson, Wasters III (Accumulate) | John Parker | Merit awards: Virginia Leonard, Paul Maseyk | |
| 2016 | Janet DeBoos | Caroline Earley, Clinch VI | Greg Barron | Merit awards: Susannah Bridges, Jim Cooper, Mark Goody & Emily Siddell | |
| 2017 | Emma Bugden | Richard Stratton, Forced Turn Teapot | Andrea du Chatenier | Merit awards: Cheryl Lucas, John Parker, Amanda Shanley | |
| 2018 | Bari Ziperstein | Sang-Sool Shim and Keum-Sun Lee, In the Beautiful Dream | Merit Awards: Jim Cooper, Andrea du Chatenier, and Rick Rudd; honourable mention: Brendan Adams, Jinho Jeong, Peter Lange, John Roy and Susan St Lawrence | ||
| 2019 | Merran Esson | Mark Mitchell, Slice | Merit awards: Blue Black, Kylie Matheson; honourable mention: Aaron Scythe, Sang-Sool Shim and Keum-Sun Lee | ||
| 2021 | Raewyn Atkinson | Teresa Peters, ECHOES | Merit awards: Fiona Jack, Andrea du Chatenier | ||
| 2022 | Karl Chitham | Richard Penn, Artefacts | Second: Helen Perrett; Merits: Evelyn Hodowany, Elena Renker, Dorothy Waetford |