The Norma Bull Portraiture Scholarship AWARD

The Norma Bull Portraiture Scholarship Award is made available through the bequest of the late Norma Bull. It is open to all students enrolled in a tertiary Arts Course or in classes conducted by an approved art association or art teacher in Victoria.

This is a biennial award, which aims to encourage students of all ages to advance in the Naturalist style. In 2025 the scholarship is for $5000. The winner will receive $2,500 at the award’s announcement.  Within 12 months the winner will report on the progress in their studies to receive the final $2,500.

The award is open to students of art of all ages and experience levels, whether this be in university, through the Victorian Artists Society or other art schools, informal institutions, societies or with a private tutor. You do not need to be a university student to enter. This scholarship is open to beginners and advanced students working in the Naturalist style.

Norma Bull was born in Melbourne in 1906.  As an artist she was most active in England during World War II and famous for her wartime depictions.  Her skills were diverse with etching and painting being her focus.  The opening of her exhibition, ‘War time Britain’ on 4th December 1947 was attended by her Majesty the Queen of England.  In the prelude to this exhibition one journalist expressed ‘What I liked most was the artist’s enthusiasm: it seemed to me she felt she had a message to give to the people of Australia’. After a long and distinguished career, she passed away in 1980 after a trust was set up to celebrate the study of art in the form of naturalistic portraiture.