News edition for 22 October 2026. Added to Nungya on 22 October 2026 as part of our retrospective news archive. Reporting reflects information available by the edition date.

Visitors have added their choice to this year’s Vincent Lingiari Art Award story. Margaret Kngwarray Long of Utopia Art Centre has won the $2,000 Desart People’s Choice Award for her painting Arnkerrth, 2026.

Desart and the Central Land Council announced the result on 22 October, following the exhibition at Araluen Arts Centre in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. The report says hundreds of visitors voted in person, alongside online votes, with every exhibited work receiving a vote.

The fourth award exhibition featured 56 works by 58 artists. Its theme marked 50 years of the Northern Territory’s Aboriginal Land Rights Act, and its opening coincided with Desert Mob. The audience award follows the major prize for Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney and the CLC Delegates’ Choice Award for Joseph Williams Jungarrayi, announced in September.

Long’s winning painting has also been reserved by the Art Gallery of Western Australia, according to the report. The audience result closes another chapter of a program that connects artists, art centres and visitors around Country and culture. It is a fitting final detail: people spent time with the work, considered what moved them and helped recognise an artist through their collective response.