NEW £20,000 Portrait Prize + Last Call for Entries for Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2021

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters TODAY announced a BRAND NEW £20,000 PRIZE for Portraiture - BUT - and this is a big BUT - the deadline for entries is Monday 25th January 2021.

Portrait Artists Opportunities with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

NEW William Lock Portrait Prize

The NEW William Lock Portrait Prize awards £20,000 to the artist who submits 

the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential

This pleases me enormously as it's rewarding people who can really PAINT - but is in no way prescriptive as to the type of paint to be used. I'm very sure it will be much appreciated by any number of other portrait painters.

This is a VERY new prize - it wasn't even listed in the prizes available by the Mall Galleries as of last Sunday!

In the absence of the BP Portrait Award it's also the best award available for a portrait selected from an exhibition in the UK in 2021.

As a result of the new prize the deadline for entries has been extended by a week to 25th January 2021.

The Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Mall Galleries

Call for Entries - Annual Exhibition 2021 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters welcomes 

• portrait paintings, drawings and original prints from artists over 18, 
• from the UK and internationally 
• to be shown alongside members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at their Annual Exhibition 
• at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1Y 5BD 
• 6 -15 May 2021 (COVID-allowing)

The DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES is 12 noon on Friday 25th January 2021.

Criteria for entries are summarised below:

• ARTISTS: 
• Any artist over 18 may submit.
• Note that artists accepted for exhibition will be invited to advertise portrait commissions through our Commissions department on which a commission will be payable.
• MEDIUMS: All mediums aside from sculpture and photography are acceptable.
• DATES AND EXHIBITIONS
• must have been completed in the last three years and 
• not been exhibited in London previously.
• PRICING: 
• Works must have a minimum sale price of £300. 
• Works may be listed as not for sale – if your work is not for sale, please input the price as ‘NFS’ when prompted.
• The price of works for sale must include 45% + VAT commission.
• NUMBER: A maximum of three works can submitted for selected. It is possible for all three entries to be selected
• SIZE: Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
• ENTRY FEES: The submission fee is 
• £20 per work for standard entries and 
• £14 per work for artists aged 35 or under. 
• This includes free admission to the exhibition (normally £4).

You can find out how to enter the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters on 

• the official call for entries website
• the RP website - Exhibit with us
• Notifications of selections will be advised as from Friday 29 January 2021, 12pm

I was convinced I'd done the Call for Entries post for this year' annual exhibition - but apparently not! 

• Maybe I was confused by the number of blog posts I did last September for the delayed annual exhibition!  
• Then I thought maybe I didn't get a dedicated email about it and found that the only thing I received was a generic Mall Galleries update on 10th December......... 
• so I'm now left wondering whether other painters are in the same boat??

In terms of my thoughts on the benefits of entering this open exhibition in the interests of a fast blog post I can only point you in the direction of LAST YEAR'S call for entries by me 

• see LAST CALL - Annual Open Exhibition 2020 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (but note all the dates relate to 2020 (NOT 2021)
• This blog post Annual Exhibition 2020 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters provides details of the number of entries and the numbers selected last year who were not members of the RP 
• This is my Review: Annual Exhibition 2020 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - which provides you with views of the portraits selected for exhibition by members and artists selected from the open entry.
• You can also see some of my PHOTOS of the exhibition in the album Royal Society of Portrait Painters: Annual Exhibition 2020 on my Facebook Page
• Below are details of the other significant cash awards offered by this open exhibition.

Awards by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

This open exhibition also offers other significant cash prizes 

• The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture: £10,000 plus the Society’s Gold Medal awarded for the most distinguished portrait in the Society’s annual exhibition
• The de Laszlo Foundation Award: £3,000 plus a Silver Medal for the most outstanding portrait by an artist aged 35 years or under
• The Prince of Wales's Award for Portrait Drawing: £2,000 and framed certificate for a portrait in any recognised drawing medium
• The RP Award: £2,000 will be awarded to the artist whose work best represents the year's chosen theme - which for 2021 is 'Childhood'. The judges will be looking for the most interesting and engaging interpretation of the idea of 'childhood' within the parameters of portraiture.
• The RP Prize for the Best Small Portrait: A prize of £2,000 for the best small portrait in the exhibition, measuring not more than 38 x 30.5 cm (15 x 12 inches) unframed
• The Burke’s Peerage Foundation Award for Classically Inspired Portraiture: The Burke’s Peerage Foundation Award, established by its founders William Bortrick and Mark Ayre in 2015, is presented for Classically Inspired Portraiture in the RP Annual Exhibition. It is presented each year with a certificate and a cheque for £2,000.
• The Smallwood Architects Prize: £1,000 for a portrait in which architectural or interior features play an important part