The Portia Geach Memorial Award is an annual prize for Australian female portraitists. The Award was established in 1961 as a testamentary trust by Florence Kate Geach, sister of Australian painter Portia Geach, with an initial endowment of AU£12,000. The first prize given under the aegis of the Award was made in 1965, comprising a £1,000 prize to Jean Appleton for a self-portrait.[1] In 2015, the Award was worth A$30,000.[2]
The Award aims to support female artists working in the field of portraits painted from life, and is given based upon the field entries submitted to the Award. Under the terms of the initial endowment, the Award is designed to recognise:
... the best portraits painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters or the Sciences by any female artist resident in Australia during the 12 months preceding the date fixed by the Trustees for sending in the pictures and who was born in Australia or was British born or has become a naturalised Australian and whose place of domicile is Australia.[1]