Jones said Winton rang her on Friday morning to congratulate her on winning the nation’s most well-known art prize, first awarded in 1921.

“He made a joke that he thought he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he does and we all do,” Jones said.

“I hope that we can all unite for the environment.”

Winton said he was initially reluctant to sit for the portrait.

“I had seen Laura’s paintings of the Great Barrier Reef coral gardens, including her beautiful and tragic depictions of coral bleaching, so I was a little more curious and open than usual,” he said in a statement.

The winning portrait was selected from more than 1000 entries and 57 finalists.

Also announced on Friday, Naomi Kantjuriny won the $40,000 Sulman Prize for her work Minyma mamu tjuta.

“I’ve been painting for 30 years, and I love it,” Kantjuriny said in a statement read out at the gallery on her behalf by Tjala Arts chairperson Muna Kulyuru.

“The story of the mamu is a story we sing and dance to. Mamu are good and bad spirits, sometimes they hold scary stories that teach lessons to the grandkids.”

The $50,000 Wynne Prize has gone to Yolŋu elder Djakaŋu Yunupiŋu from Yirrkala in the Northern Territory, for her painting Nyalala gurmilili.

“I am one of seven sisters. There are only three of us left now. The songs of this painting were given to me by our father, Muŋgurrawuy,” she said in a statement after hearing of the win.

“It shows the songs of the seven sisters in the stars crying. Now I am crying. But this time with happiness.”