The National Portrait Gallery has today announced that entries are open for the 2024 edition of its annual photography prize, the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize.
The international competition, which celebrates and promotes the very best in contemporary portrait photography, is inviting submissions from 9am today (26th March 2024) until 10pm on 7th May 2024.
The Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize is one of the most competitive photography awards in the world and showcases the work of some of the most exciting and cutting-edge contemporary photographers. The competition is open to everyone aged 18 and over from around the world, whether a leading professional, a talented amateur or an exciting emerging artist. Photographers are encouraged to interpret ‘portrait’ in its widest sense, with ‘photography focused on portraying people with an emphasis on their identity as individuals’. The winner of the competition will receive £15,000, with second prize receiving £3000 and third prize £2000.
Following a fantastic first year back at the Gallery in 2023, I cannot wait to see what the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024 has in store. The Prize, which consistently attracts the finest talent in contemporary photography, is one of the most prestigious competitions globally, and together, submitted works create a unique and powerful snapshot of our world today. Best of luck to everyone entering their work this year – I’m very much looking forward to viewing your important photographs.
Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, OBE Director, National Portrait Gallery
A commission prize worth £8000 will also be awarded, allowing a chosen photographer to create a portrait for the Gallery’s collection. Serena Brown, winner of the inaugural commission prize in 2023, will unveil her new portrait for the collection at the award ceremony in November. The exhibition will open in London on 14th November 2024 and run until 16th February 2025.
This year’s judging panel will include multimedia artist Pogus Caesar; curator Alona Pardo; writer and curator Lou Stoppard and the National Portrait Gallery’s Curator of Photography Clare Freestone.
This year marks the seventeenth anniversary of our partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize. That long-standing collaboration has created an important showcase for the best photographic portraiture. We are delighted to be working with the Gallery to grow the opportunities for photographers around the world to bring their art to the public.
Shane Gleghorn Managing Partner, Taylor Wessing
Entrants to the competition are encouraged to submit works as a series, either a group of individual portraits based on a particular theme, or two or more photographs that form a single portrait when shown together, in addition to stand-alone portraits. One series of photographs submitted to the competition may be chosen by the judges to be exhibited in its entirety.
To enter the 2024 competition, photographers are required to upload their image(s) via the National Portrait Gallery’s competition platform. All images will be viewed anonymously by a panel of judges who will collectively select the prize winners and works for the exhibition. competitions.npg.org.uk.
The entry fee for the competition is £22 per image. Photographers in receipt of Universal Credit or Pension Credit can enter this year’s Prize for free, and a new discount is in place for photographers who receive Disability Benefits, who are students or are between the ages of 18 and 25. Full information about how to enter, including entry forms and rules, can be found online.
Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024, 14th November 2024 – 16th February 2025, National Portrait Gallery.
Full information about how to enter, including entry forms and rules, can be found online at: competitions.npg.org.uk/
Entries to the Prize will be accepted from 9am on Tuesday 26 March 2024. The deadline for submissions is 10pm on Tuesday 7 May 2024. Entries must be made via the National Portrait Gallery’s digital platform: www.competitions.npg.org.uk
