2025 is the fourth year we have partnered with Madame F wine for our Madame F Queer Britain Art Award. Together we want to celebrate queer creativity and support the art emerging from our talented communities.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered this year. Entries were paintings, drawings, illustrations, graphics, tapestry, collage, photography – any 2D medium artists were working in. The top prizes of £1500, £1000 and £500 were awarded during a special reception at the museum in Granary Square, so congratulations to all our finalists and our three winners, whose work and artist's statements you can see below. Until next year...

£500 PRIZE WINNER

David Roberts

THIRD PRIZE

'The piece was made for a book called, We Are Your Children - A History of LGBTQ+ Activism, published in May 2025. It's watercolour, ink and coloured pencil on hot-pressed 300g paper. It's for a part of the book about the beginning of the 1980s, after certain freedoms had been hard fought for and won. It's an imagined scene of what queer joy may have looked like before the AIDS epidemic.'

£1000 PRIZE WINNER

Emily Witham

SECOND PRIZE

'This installation piece is about dyke history as well as dyke futures. Connecting queer women throughout time by referencing lesbian vernacular, shared secret visual languages and inherited cultural touchstones. Influenced by the legacy of the London lesbian leather scene, the Black Widows, a 1980s London dyke motorcycle gang, and Dykes on Bikes, I am reimagining modern lesbian heraldry inspired by archival materials and recorded sapphic stories from the Bishopsgate Institute LGBTQ+ archives.'

£1500 PRIZE WINNER

Sarah Jane Moon

FIRST PRIZE

'Reeta Loi is a Buddhist, Dalit & queer Indian raised in the UK. A vital spokesperson for the South Asian LGBTQ+ community as Founder and CEO of Gaysians, Reeta is also a singer, music producer and poet. Their work brings together people, communities and organisations to create positive change.'

Christopher Turrell / E.M. Parry / Jason Carr / Kevin Kane / Kizzie-Mai Lightburn-Jones / Klaus Piechocki / Petra-Jurik Dracovich / Philip Jack Bray

SPECIAL MENTION

MEET THE JUDGES

PAUL HARFLEET

Artist and previous

Award winner

ALIA ROMAGNOLI

Photographer and artist

“I am proud to be on this jury. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate LGBTQ+ people, of all ages, and our artistic endeavours. Queer Britain is working very hard to set up a national LGBTQ+ museum, and this award shows that queer creativity is at its very heart.”

KATE CHARLESWORTH

Cartoonist, artist and Award judge

ROBERT TAYLOR

Photographer and artist

MARK KING

Head of Design and Special Projects, Queer Britain

KATE CHARLESWORTH

Cartoonist and artist

OLIVER FREESTON

Our judges looked for originality and overall artistic quality

IAIN MUGGOCH

Founder of Madame F wine

ASIFA LAHORE

UK’s First out muslim drag queen