Call for Entries: The RA Summer Exhibition 2026

This is for all artists interested in submitting their art to this year's Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The entry opens this Wednesday and the number of entries is limited!

First, a preamble before we get on the details of the Call for Entries.

I've always been quite ambivalent about the Summer Exhibition held by the Royal Academy of Arts each year. Which has not stopped me analysing and writing a LOT about it. See the end of this post for links to past exhibitions - and some very useful information for would-be exhibitors.

I think it is a very worthy cause, insofar as receipts help fund the free art education provided to students at the RA Schools.

On the one hand, I think it includes quite a lot of utter rubbish. 

However, it also includes art with incredible impact that you might not otherwise see - and that's not just by the member RAs.

However it is ABSOLUTELY HUGE and I now find it to be exhausting. 

• Probably my age (I'm now 71 and have osteoarthritis) to some extent, 
• but also something to do with the numbers visiting, the noise and the lack of seats in what is a VERY large exhibition (well over 1,000 artworks - some of which are large). 
• In the end it becomes a complete sensory overload. I'm pleased to say I can cope with other smaller exhibitions very much better - so not just me being older!

Of late I've stopped visiting - but I do watch the videos AND I do look at the online exhibition!

Partly because I refuse to subscribe to the RA any more - which I did for years and years and years - because frankly I don't find the annual subscription cost (currently £148) in the context of what's on offer to be persuasive any more. 

That and the fact they took away the Chesterfields in the Friends Room. After a long visit viewing art you want a comfy seat - and Fortnum & Masons over the road now fulfils that need at a much reduced cost!

Call for Entries

Entry opens for the 2026 exhibition on Wednesday 7th January 2026. 

Hence why I'm writing this now - as you will see if you read on.

The overall process - from beginning to end - is MUCH MORE COMPLICATED than anything else you apply for so you need to get it right.

The RA have been doing this for a long time and have LOTS of information for you - and you do need to read it. 

The ArtReview Power List 100 in the last 20 years (2005, 2015, 2025)

It's always worthwhile to keep an eye on what's changing in the upper echelons of the art genre/business - what's changing and what's not.  

The turn of the year is a good time to reflect on how things are changing....

ArtReview's Power 100 is an annual ranking of the most powerful people in Art and is always worth a look.  

• The core concept of the list revolves around the mechanisms and impact of influence in the art world.
• A lot of what changes tends to filter down over time - so it's a bit like looking into the future. 

Changes in the ArtReview Power 100:
who was at the top in the last 20 years 
(see FULL TABLE below)

This post looks at 

• who are the Power 100 in 2025 
• how the list has changed RADICALLY in the last 20 years. 

and gives me an opportunity to give my very analytical brain a work out - and to look at the trends over time.

The Power 100 is ArtReview’s annual portrait of power in the artworld. It is an attempt to describe the individuals and groups that have shaped what art has been seen and how it has been seen over the past 12 months (broadly speaking, the calendar year). And yes, that is an indication that ArtReview views the artworld as, essentially, a social structure: a network of relationships that are triggered by the actions of individuals. 

They define this further

The criteria for inclusion are:

• that each person of the Power 100 has had an active influence on the art being made and shown now;
• that influence has to be active

Of course, it really all depends on WHO you ask..... 

The Top 10 in the Power 100 2025

V&A Illustration Awards 2026: Last Call for Entries

This is about the Call for Entries for the biennial V&A Illustration Awards - in 2026. Below are the basic facts of what you need to know - plus the link to where you can read more. Deadline for entry is 12.00 GMT on 5 January 2026.

The V&A Illustration Awards is a free, biennial competition celebrating excellence in illustration and contemporary practice, and judged by a panel of prominent illustrators and industry experts.

The Awards aim to reflect the contemporary UK illustration scene, welcoming published work by UK residents or those resident anywhere in the world working for UK clients. 

Illustration: Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year 2024 Benjamin Phillips, 

Alte Zachen / Old Things by Ziggy Hanaor (© Cicada Books, B. Phillips 2022)

 

The Prizes

The prize money has increased for 2026, 

• each of the five category winners will receive £3,500 
• five runners-up will get £1000. 
• The overall winner, the Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year, receives 
• an additional £5,500 (making a total of £9,000) and 
• their work will become part of the V&A’s collections. 

Winners and runners-up for each category will be announced in summer 2026. Their work will be displayed in a dedicated, curated display within the V&A.

The Awards are generously supported by the Linder Foundation and the Moira Gemmell Memorial fund.

What you need to know

What are the categories for entries?

In 2026, there are five categories. There are no "designated briefs" for entries in any category.

The five categories are:

Marks of Reflection" Exhibition by the PAOTY 2025 Semi Finalists

Yesterday evening, I attended the Private View of  at the excellent "Marks of Reflection" Exhibition by the PAOTY 2025 Semi Finalists - all organised and paid for by the artists.

Semi Finalists at the Private View

(L toR) Edie Baund - who loves orange and had some excellent advice from old friend Duncan Shoosmith (paint lots of portraits in 3 hours!)

Paulina Kwietiewsska - who paints a lot of children on commission;

Katie Jones - who had a nasty accident and broke her leg straight after the Final

Courtenay Bae - whose painting is behind

and Chloe Barnes - who won!

The exhibition is a combination of some (but not all) the artwork submitted or produced in the show. Plus additional artworks by individual artists.

You can find the photographs I took of the exhibition on my Making A Mark Facebook Page in this photo album Marks of Reflection (PAOTY 2025 semi finalists)

My pics 

• start with the winner 
• then some gallery views, 
• plus collections of pics by semi finalists finishing with the Finalists and the rest of Chloe's art and two past PAOTY winners! 

Well worth a view and you're guaranteed to meet at least one of the artists.

You can read the Cass Arts Interview with each of the semi-finalists here

Exhibition details:

• Artists include: Chloe Barnes, Courtney Bae, Edie Bound, Katie Jones, Lauren Ross, Paulina Kwietniewska, Uthman Wahaab.
• Dates: The exhibition is on until Sunday 21st December (11am - 6pm) 
• Venue: 67 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PT - which is a hop skip and jump due east of the BBC HQ and a few minutes walk north from Oxford Circus tube.
• Entry: Free

It is by the way a very nice "white box" gallery on two floors with excellent lighting. I'd certainly recommend any small group looking for a space for an exhibition to give it a visit.

PAOTY - What are the winners doing now? (series 1-6)

This is about the first six artists who achieved the title of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. (Series 1-6) The year at the end of each heading below relates to the year the series was broadcast and not the year it was filmed.

My previous post PAOTY - What are the winners doing now? (series 7- 11) covered the winners of Series 7-11. 

Portraits of Amir Khan and Sir Ian McKellen painted by Christian Hook

Today's post is about

• Series 1: Nick Lord
• Series 2: Christian Hook
• Series 3: Gareth Reid
• Series 4: Samira Addo
• Series 5: Duncan Shoosmith 
• Series 6: Christobel Blackburn

Links to their websites are embedded in their names.

Nick Lord - Series 1 (2013)

The very first series began with heats held in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin. 

Nick Lord (Instagram) won the very first series in 2013 by beating the 1,800 applicants to become the overall winner. 

He was born and raised in Cardiff. He studied for a BA in Fine Art at Kingston University and graduated in July 2011 with a BA in Fine Art First Class Honours from Kingston University  

Nick won with a portfolio of work done throughout the series

• He painted Gavin Henson in his Cardiff heat. 
• For the Final

• he was commissioned to paint Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC
• and he painted Sophie Dahl in Paris - with the other artists

The unveiling of Nick Lord's commissioned portrait for the Final
of Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC

After winning the series, as his prize, he was then commissioned to paint a portrait of double-Booker author Hilary Mantel for The British Library

Nick Lord with Hilary Mantel at the unveiling at the British Library.

Oddly, I can identify an Instagram account but no website. He also did not participate in the Portrait Artist of the Decade programme to celebrate 10 series of Portrait Artist of the Year and there is no bio that I can find about his subsequent career.

Christian Hook - Series 2 (2014)

I find that Christian Hook is probably the artist who gets mentioned most by those thinking back to who was the artist that had the most impact on them or the one they liked the most.

He has an amazing ability to use contemporary texhnciques and yet get a good likeness every time. He combines accurate portraits which really look like the sitter with Gerhard Richter type swipes of paint.

For the final he painted

• Sir Ian McKellen in 4 hours
• a very large painting of Amir Khan for his commissioned portrait

Waiting to hear who has won Series 2 of PAOTY
Christian Hook in the middle has the two biggest portraits from
the 4 hour painting in the Final Session and the commission completed beforehand

Never ever underestimate the impact of very good portraits in the Final which are also very big!

His commission painting for the Scottish Portrait Gallery of Scottish Actor Alan Cuming.....