John Moores Painting Prize makes history as youngest ever winner is announced

Walker Art Gallery and John Moores Painting Prize Trust have announced Ally Fallon as the winner of the John Moores Painting Prize 2025 for his work ‘If You Were Certain, What Would You Do Then?’ (2025).

At 27 years old, Fallon becomes the youngest artist ever to win the John Moores Painting Prize, and the youngest winner since Jack Smith won the inaugural Prize in 1957.

Based in Manchester, Ally Fallon is a graduate of the Manchester School of Art and Apollo Painting School, and was the 2023 Artist in Residence at Joya: AiR, in southeastern Spain. They have exhibited in a number of group shows across the UK, including Manchester’s HOME, Cheshire’s The FG Gallery, and Boomer Gallery, London.

Ally Fallon, winner of the 2025 John Moores Painting Prize, said:

“This is a very proud moment for me. It was only a few years ago I came here for the first time as a student, so to be standing here with my painting on the walls, it’s a very prominent moment.

“There’s something paint as a material that allows me to express an experience in a very unique way.

Being based in Manchester, the John Moores Painting Prize is a really, really important exhibition for Northern-based artists, as it happens outside of London – it’s seen as a real beacon.”

The four other shortlisted artists, Highly Commended for their work, are Davina Jackson for ‘Just Like It Was’ (2025), Katy Shepard for ‘Bedscape2’ (2025), Miranda Webster for ‘laid out’ (2024), and Joanna Whittle for ‘Darkened Heart (a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth)’ (2025).

Also announced today is the winner of the Lady Grantchester Prize, supported by Winsor & Newton. David Caines wins this award with his work ‘monstrous endeavour’. The Lady Grantchester Prize offers £5,000, a residency, and £2,500 worth of art materials supplied by Winsor & Newton and is designed to support artists in the early stages of their artistic career.

David Caines said:

“Making paintings is an unusual way to spend one’s time. Hours, days, or months are spent in isolation attempting to manifest elusive ideas or feelings, like catching smoke in a bottle, wrestling with self-doubt, never knowing whether the work will ever have a life outside the studio walls. My painting ‘monstrous endeavour’ is, in part, a comment on the curious, obsessional, and often unsuccessful compulsion to make art.

I’m elated that it will be exhibited in the beautiful Walker Art Gallery. When I heard that I had won the Lady Grantchester Prize, I couldn’t quite believe it. It feels like a wonderful affirmation, not just of a lot of hard work, but of my peculiar preoccupations as well. I’m still pinching myself.”

Darkened Heart (a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth) (Credit: Joanna Whittle)

Charlotte Keenan, Head of Walker Art Gallery, said:

“Ally Fallon’s win represents another remarkable moment in the John Moores Painting Prize’s distinguished history. At 27, Ally becomes our youngest ever winner, joining the ranks of exceptional artists like Sir David Hockney and Lisa Milroy who have shaped British painting through this Prize. I want to congratulate not only Ally and David Caines, our Lady Grantchester Prize winner, but also all the shortlisted artists and everyone who submitted work to this edition – their collective talent demonstrates the extraordinary vitality of contemporary painting.

As we look towards its 70th anniversary in 2027, the Prize continues to be a vital platform that celebrates the innovative and challenging work being created by painters across the UK today. The Walker’s commitment to supporting artists at all stages of their careers and bringing the very best of contemporary British painting to Liverpool remains as strong as ever.”

The 2025 John Moores Painting Prize jury comprised of Louise Giovanelli, Gemma Rolls-Bentley, Michael Simpson, Dr. Zoé Whitley, and Zhang Enli. Following the Prize’s tradition of anonymous judging, all works were assessed without knowledge of the artists’ identities, allowing the paintings to speak entirely for themselves.

Michael Simpson, winner of the 2016 John Moores Painting Prize, said:

“The winning work by Ally Fallon has a deceptive simplicity. It is a brave risk-taking painting, fraught with dangers with its interesting experiment with structural diversity. However, he finds a way to give the work an almost comedic coherency through an inventive marriage of surprising idiosyncratic forms. A painting rich with playful vitality.”

Zheng Enli said:

“The winning works are very wonderful, and it has an indescribable quality.”

Bedscape 2 (Credit: Katy Shepard)

Gemma Rolls-Bentley said:

“I think this is a really important prize because opportunities for artists, all artists, are few and far between at the moment. The landscape for artists in the UK is getting worse in terms of funding opportunities and access to public funding – so to have a prize like this that not only offers opportunity to artists at all different career stages, different ages, but also I would say signals trends in paintings. People take this prize really seriously and they will look to it to identify new talent, new voices, and to think about what is being said in contemporary painting right now – and that feels really exciting.”

Louise Giovanelli said:

“Ally Fallon’s enigmatic painting took me completely by surprise. It manages to maintain a beautiful balance throughout the experience of viewing it. Its conceptual rigour is matched by its visual playfulness. It’s a tightrope walk of a painting and there’s nothing quite like it in the show. As such, I consider it not only confidently intelligent, but to have a nuanced humour. It represents the very nowness of painting, a feat often attempted in contemporary painting, but rarely achieved. It will stay long in my mind. His painting was discussed at length by all the judging panel, it’s just so wonderfully engaging to look at and to think about, the extended conversations generated by his work were deeply stimulating. It is a worthy and apposite winner, in an incredibly strong overall submission.

The judging was a strenuous process, and all the judging team were impressively professional and patient in reaching their respective decisions. I remain thankful to the John Moores Painting Prize Trust for its continued dedication to supporting contemporary painting and I am confident this year’s presentation represents the very best in painting today, in all its dynamic variations.”

Just Like It Was (Credit: Davina Jackson)

Dr Zoé Whitley said:

“Having the privilege of looking at more than 3,000 paintings, and now at the 71 that we get to share with the public here at the Walker, means that it’s constantly pushed my expectations of what I think a painting is – what a painting could be. It’s that openness that I think has been really thrilling – it’s artists who are always showing us the way to say, ‘you think you know what a painting is, but I can show you something else’.

Every single painting revealed something interesting, and no two are alike.”

‘If You Were Certain, What Would You Do Then?’ is among the 71 paintings selected for the John Moores Painting Prize 2025 exhibition, on display at the Walker Art Gallery from 6 September 2025 until 1 March 2026. The exhibition will also feature winners from the most recent John Moores Painting Prize China, continuing the international dialogue that has enriched the Prize in recent years.

Visitors to the exhibition will be invited to vote for their favourite painting to win the Visitors’ Choice Award, supported by Rathbones, with the winning artist receiving £2,025.

Named after its founding sponsor Sir John Moores in 1957, the internationally renowned prize, organised in partnership with the John Moores Painting Prize Trust, continues to support artists and bring the best contemporary painting to Liverpool. The competition has awarded more than £700,000 in prize money across 32 exhibitions, showcasing more than 2,400 works of art. Sir Peter Blake, who won the Junior Prize in 1961, has been the Prize’s patron since 2011.

Past prize winners include Lisa Milroy (1989), Peter Doig (1993), Keith Coventry (2010), Rose Wylie (2014), Jacqui Hallum (2018), Kathryn Maple (2020), and most recently Graham Crowley (2023), who announced this year’s winner at a launch event in Liverpool this evening.

The John Moores Painting Prize 2025 exhibition runs from 6 September 2025 to 1 March 2026 at Walker Art Gallery.