KIRKCUDBRIGHT.- The winner of the Lapeca Scottish Landscape Awards 2025 and £10,000 prize has been named as Mick McGraw (Helensburgh) for his artwork ‘Glen Croe landslide, 31st August 2020’.

The winning photograph was taken from the slopes of Ben Donich, looking over the “Rest and Be Thankful” on the A83, an area repeatedly hit by landslides causing major disruption to Argyll’s main transport route. The climb out of Glen Croe is so long and steep that it was traditional for travellers and drovers to rest at the top, and be thankful for having made the highest point. As a member of Arrochar Mountain Rescue Team, artist Mick McGraw knows this landscape well.

On winning the Lapeca Scottish Landscape Award, Mick McGraw who is Programme Leader for the Master of Letters in the Fine Art Practice Programme at Glasgow School of Art, said, “Landscape for me is layered with history, politics and human intervention. Glen Croe is not just a scenic view but a place where engineering solutions and natural forces collide, shaping how we navigate the familiar terrain.

“Winning this award encourages me to keep exploring these fragile intersections and to document how our attempts to control the landscape become part of its evolving story.”

As well as receiving a first prize of £10,000, Mick McGraw also receives a specially commissioned sculpture by Lorna Fraser, winner of the Scottish Landscape Sculpture Award 2023.

The judging panel for the awards included influential art-world figures David Mach RA HRSA (chair), Lennox Dunbar RSA, Annie Cattrell RSA, Jessica Harrison RSA and Rachel Maclean RSA (elect).

The winning piece is one of 107 artworks selected from over 2,100 entries currently on display at Kirkcudbright Galleries. Each of the works selected do not allow the viewer to be passive but instead, provoke a reaction, inviting conversations that challenge the concept of landscape art. Unlike traditional landscape painting, many have a greater sense of connection to a place or a time rather than depicting a recognisable location. The resulting exhibition is the biggest and most ambitious survey of contemporary landscape art in Scotland today and includes emerging artists alongside established professionals working across a wide range of media – from painting, sculpture, drawing and miniatures, to photography and film.

Baldvin Ringsted (Glasgow) is the recipient of the second prize and £5,000 donated by the Robert Haldane Smith Foundation, for his meticulously stitched collage titled ‘Deluge’. Made up from found pieces, mostly from Scottish charity shops, each found work holds forgotten memories of houses and flats long since inherited, sold or renovated. On winning second prize, Baldvin Ringsted said, “My practice relies on craftsmanship and a skilled level of fabrication. I have always been interested in found objects and how our communal memory ‘embeds’ meaning into everyday objects and images. I believe my work has a lot in common with classic landscape painting, how it evokes memories and a sense of familiarity, even though the landscape is from an unknown place.”

Martin Rek (Edinburgh) has collected the third prize and £1,000 donated by the McLean family. The work inwatercolour and carbon pencil, titled ‘Stillness, Glencoe’, is a contemplative composition first captured during a wild-camping trip in the Hidden Valley. On winning third prize, Martin Rek said, “I saw the Scottish Landscape Awards exhibition in Edinburgh two years ago, not long after arriving from Tasmania. I was deeply impressed by the diversity of work and knew I had to try entering. I have been submitting to art competitions for years and love the excitement they bring. This award in particular celebrates such a range of voices – it’s stimulating and rewarding to be part of that conversation.”

Sándor Nagy (Glasgow) is the winner of the Scottish Landscape Award for Environmental Art and £3,000donated by the Cruden Foundation for his digital infrared photograph titled ‘Boom’. On learning of winning the award, Sándor Nagy said, “I’m honoured that this quiet, surreal image has resonated, and deeply grateful to the Cruden Foundation for supporting such moments of connection.”

Meanwhile artist duo Thomson and Craighead (Ross & Cromarty) are the winners of the Scottish Landscape Photography Award and £1,000 with their work ‘Gas Giant’. The work is the first in a series of photographic lightboxes that display rocks and pebbles found by the artists in the northwest highlands of Scotland. Speaking of the awards, Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead said, “We enjoyed the last edition of the Scottish Landscape Awards and this time around genuinely felt we had work that fitted the criteria. It’s also part of a new direction in our work that draws from the Scottish landscape near where we live in Ross-shire, that until now has not been shown in Scotland.”

And digital artist Yiwei Xu (Edinburgh) has won the Young Landscape Artist Award (16-25 years) and £1,000 donated by Irene Adams OBE. ‘Tourist Handbook: What to Do in Tourist Attractions’ combines found film footage based on Google Street View with fictional stories set in several iconic Chinese attractions. It explores how the tourist industry shapes local identity, culture and landscape. On winning the Young Landscape Artist Award, Yiwei Xu said, "This is my first major exhibition. I came across the Scottish Landscape Awards through an email circulated by my college encouraging students to apply. Winning this award gives me more confidence in my practice and encourages me to keep exploring the areas I care about.”

Open to anyone over 16 years, born, living or studying in Scotland, regardless of experience, the Scottish Landscape Awards is Scotland’s newest and biggest prize for contemporary landscape art, giving visibility to a mix of well-established artists as well as newcomers across a diversity of styles. It is managed by the Scottish Arts Trust, a registered charity dedicated to promoting the arts in Scotland which also manages the Scottish Portrait Awards.

Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Communities Committee Tracey Little said, "The Scottish Landscape Awards 2025 celebrates the powerful connection between place and creativity—honouring artists who capture the spirit of extraordinary landscapes. We are delighted that the partnership between Dumfries & Galloway Council and The Scottish Arts Trust has brought this significant exhibition to our region.”

Vice Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Communities Committee George Jamieson said, "The Scottish Landscape Awards 2025 showcases a bold reimagining of the land—through clay, pigment, lens, and form. From immersive ceramics and amazing sculpture to photography and painting, the exhibition celebrates artists’ from across the whole of Scotland and has something for everyone to enjoy. It will be greatly enjoyed by our community and visitors over the summer months.”

The Scottish Landscape Awards exhibition is free to visit and opens at Kirkcudbright Galleries from 5 July and runs until Saturday 28 September 2025.