The National Portrait Gallery is Now Accepting Entries for the 35th Portrait Award

The National Portrait Gallery has announced that it is now accepting entries for the thirty-fifth Portrait Award, the world's most prestigious competition for portrait painting. The Portrait Award in 2014 will celebrate twenty-five years of support by BP.

The First Prize winner will receive a £30,000 cash prize along with, at the Gallery's discretion, a commission worth £5,000 (to be agreed between the National Portrait Gallery and the artist). The Second Prize winner will receive £10,000 and a Third Prize of £8,000 will also be awarded. TheBP Young Artist Award with a prize of £7,000 will also go to one selected artist aged between eighteen and thirty-five.

Entry forms are now available at www.npg.org.uk/bp and the closing date for entries is Monday 3 February 2014.

The BP Portrait Award is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop portraiture in their work. The BP Portrait Award 2014 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from 26 June to 21 September 2014 and will tour to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens thereafter.

The BP Portrait Award is open to all artists over the age of 18, and provides an important platform for portrait painters. In 2013, there were 1,969 entries submitted from 77 different countries and the exhibition was seen by over a quarter of a million people.

Recent National Portrait Gallery commissions by BP Portrait Award first-prize-winning artists include Julia Donaldson by Peter Monkman (BP Portrait Award 2009 winner), Dame Kelly Holmes by Craig Wylie (BP Portrait Award 2008 winner), novelist V S Naipaul by Paul Emsley (BP Portrait Award 2007 winner), and Kids Company founder Dame Camila Batmanghelidjh by Dean Marsh (BP Portrait Award 2005 winner). Many artists who have had their work exhibited have gained commissions as a result of the considerable interest in the BP Portrait Award and the resulting exhibition.

The prize winners and exhibition will be selected by a judging panel chaired by Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery. The full panel will include: Sarah Howgate, Contemporary Curator, National Portrait Gallery; Dr Alexander Sturgis, Director of the Holburne Museum, Bath; Joanna Trollope, Author; Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP; Jonathan Yeo, Artist.

All 2014 exhibitors will be eligible to submit a proposal for the BP Travel Award 2014. The aim of the award is to provide the opportunity for an artist to experience working in a different environment, in Britain or abroad, on a project related to portraits. The winner will receive £6,000.

Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP, says:

'Every year I am astounded by the quality and diversity of entries for the BP Portrait Award and I am delighted that the exhibition in 2014 will celebrate twenty-five years of support by BP. The international reach of the competition is remarkable and, once again, I am very much looking forward to seeing the entries for 2014.'

PUBLICATION

Entrants can order a special edition of the exhibition catalogue, featuring all the selected artists, an essay by a leading author, and a note of thanks from Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery. The special edition is only available to entrants and will not be available through the Gallery shops or online.