Karmel-Shann is a figurative painter who has illustrated three books published by the National Library of Australia. He is a resident artist at Strathnairn Arts, and won the $10,000 Hornsby Art Prize in 2022.

The main scholarship will see Sydney artist Adele Warner receive $50,000 and a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, but Karmel-Shann, with Tommy Carman and Elle Wickens from NSW, and Victorians Scout Milsome and Lorna Quinn will each receive $10,000 and a two-week residency at Shark Island, a creative arts hub in Kangaroo Valley.

The late Beryl Whiteley established the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 1999 to commemorate the effect international travel and study had on her son, artist Brett Whiteley, and is now administered by the Brett Whiteley Studio and the Art Gallery of NSW.