Sean Layh’s portrait of Jacob Collins has won the Packing Room prize, ahead of the Archibald prize’s main announcement on Friday next week. Photograph: Jenni CarterView image in fullscreenSean Layh’s portrait of Jacob Collins has won the Packing Room prize, ahead of the Archibald prize’s main announcement on Friday next week. Photograph: Jenni CarterArchibald prize 2026: Jacob Collins portrait wins the Packing Room prize as finalists revealedPainting by self-taught artist was chosen by Art Gallery of NSW staff who hang finalists for exhibition, ahead of main prize announcement on 8 May
Archibald prize 2026 finalists: Virginia Trioli, Jan Fran, Ahmed al-Ahmed and more – in pictures
A portrait of actor Jacob Collins by Sean Layh has won the favour of Art Gallery of NSW staff, who awarded it the Packing Room prize on Thursday, ahead of the Archibald prize’s main announcement on 8 May.
Layh, a self-taught painter, said winning the prize for his work – an oil painting titled The tragicall historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke – was “one of the great honours of my professional life”.
Based in Melbourne, he said much of his technical skill was forged through visiting the National Gallery Victoria’s permanent collection.
The $3,000 prize is chosen by the AGNSW staff who unpack and hang the Archibald prize exhibition, which this year received more than 1,000 entries, whittled down to 59 finalists.
Read morePortraits of Bondi shooting hero Ahmed al-Ahmed, journalists Virginia Trioli and Jan Fran, surfer Layne Beachley and artist Khaled Sabsabi are among this year’s finalists, alongside paintings by artists Kaylene Whiskey, Richard Lewer, Vincent Namatjira, Tsering Hannaford and Michael Zavros.
The main prize, worth $100,000, will be awarded on 8 May to the best portrait of “some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia”, as judged by the trustees of the gallery.
The $50,000 Wynne prize for landscape painting and $40,000 Sulman prize for subject painting, genre painting or mural project will also be announced on 8 May, with all finalists on show from 9 May at the Art Gallery of NSW.
