2009 Judges

Geoffrey Cassidy

Geoffrey Cassidy is the Director of Artbank, the Commonwealth Government's art rental scheme. Geoffrey came to Artbank from Sotheby's Australia where he had over nine years experience as a senior paintings specialist, the last two as National Head of Paintings and an International Director of the company.

A graduate in both Fine Arts and Law from the University of Queensland, his experience prior to Sotheby's included managing a commercial contemporary gallery and experience as a solicitor in both the public and private sectors.

Geoffrey's particular interest and expertise is in contemporary Australian and Chinese art as well as Outsider art. He is active in industry associations including the Contemporary Collection Benefactors at the Art Gallery of NSW, is a member of the Committee on Tax Incentives for the Arts and is often a guest speaker and lecturer for various educational and Arts organisations.

"I am not only personally excited at being invited to assist in judging the prize, being a great fan of 3-dimensional work, but professionally privileged, as Artbank is always on the lookout for exciting new contemporary sculpture."

Neil Balnaves

Neil Balnaves, aged 64, has worked for over 40 years in the entertainment and media industries starting his career in 1962 as the public relations manager for Rigby Publishers, Adelaide.

At age 34, Neil became the Managing Director of the Hamlyn Group, which was then the publishing and leisure division of James Hardie Industries. After a management buy-out of the company in 1988 it was renamed Southern Star. Neil consolidated and steered Southern Star from its beginnings as an animation studio to a multi-faceted entertainment company. In September 1996 he successfully floated the company on the Australian Stock Exchange. Southern Star is now Australia's largest television production and programming distribution group. The company is involved in film, television and video production; sales and distribution; licensing and merchandising.

In the 1990s, Southern Star created numerous hit dramas including Police Rescue, Blue Heelers and Water Rats, as well as acclaimed miniseries such as Blue Murder, Joh's Jury and On the Beach. Neil became a passionate advocate for Big Brother and in 2000 formed the Endemol Southern Star joint venture, which produces Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, Ready Steady Cook and many other game and reality programs. In 2004 Southern Star Group was acquired by Southern Cross Broadcasting, one of Australia's leading media companies with interests in television broadcasting and capital city radio stations. In September 2005 Neil retired as Executive Chairman but continued to serve as a consultant and a Director of Southern Cross Broadcasting. Southern Cross was sold to Fairfax Media in 2007.

Neil is currently the Chairman of Macquarie Leisure Trust, Australia's premier leisure asset operator which owns theme parks, bowling centres, marinas and health clubs. He is also a Trustee of Bond University, Australia's only privately funded independent university, and a Director of Technicolor Australia Limited. He serves on the boards of numerous charitable organisations and is also a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. A passion for the arts and medicine led to philanthropic support through his private foundation, The Balnaves Foundation. Established in 2006, the Foundation is a charitable trust which invests more than $2 million annually in supporting organisations that ain to create a better Australia through education, medicine, and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged and indigenous communities.

Neil's particular interest in sculpture and a desire to develop the artform, led the Foundation to become early, and continuing, patrons of Sculpture by the Sea. This subsequently led to a partnership with the Art Gallery of New South Wales that generated the very successful Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Projects. The Foundation has recently committed to be a principal donor to the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and has also extended assistance to the McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park in Melbourne.

In 2007 the Foundation was a major partner for the Australian exhibition at the Venice Biennale and will return again in 2009 as the principal partner. 2007 also saw the launch of the Sydney Opera House's Open House Program, subsidising the attendance of disadvantaged communities to increase their access to quality cultural events.

The Foundation funds the youth program at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Generation Next for teenagers, which cultivates an awareness of contemporary art, as well as the Inspire Foundation's Beanbag Program which provides film production training to disadvantaged young people. In 2007 a commitment was made to two Indigenous arts organisations Euraba Paper Company and Tjanpi Aboriginal Baskets. In 2008 it awarded scholarships to indigenous students to study medicine through the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales. Assistance to the arts is also provided through Kaldor Art Projects to help bring ground-breaking contemporary art to Australia. The Foundation is a major partner of the Biennale of Sydney, Australia's largest international art exhibition.

Support for medicine consists of grants with St Vincent's Hospital, Northcott Disability Services, The Children's Hospital at Westmead and more recently the Children's Cancer Institute Australia where a series of research scholarships for young scientists has been announced. The Foundation also supports Surf Life Saving Australia. Bond University is the recipient of a substantial grant to build a new state-of-the-art Multimedia Learning Centre for its students. Neil and his wife Diane have three children Alexandra, Hamish and Victoria who also serve as Trustees of the Foundation.

Diane Balnaves

Diane Balnaves, a Trustee of the Balnaves Foundation and aged 65, completed her secondary education at Seymour College in Adelaide followed by a period as a social worker. Diane then became a book seller in 1970 and since 1972 has been married to Neil Balnaves, the Founder of The Balnaves Foundation.