Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Series 13 of Portrait Artist of the Year starts 7th October 2026

Portrait Artist of the Year is back next week on Wednesday October 7, 2026. 

The thirteenth series has three new Judges - who I've already seen in action at Battersea Arts Centre during the heats in April this year.

PAOTY 2026 SERIES 13 Three New Judges
Three New Judges
Eva Langret, Jonathan Yeo, and Katy Hessel

My post below covers:
  • what's the same - essentially the format and broadcasts and rules
  • what's different - ALL THE JUDGES
  • the list of celebrity sitters right the way through to the Commission
  • about my reviews after each broadcast episode
  • access to my past reviews of every episode of every series since Series 4 in 2018

So what's different and what's the same


What's the same?

  • the venue for all the heats is Battersea Arts Centre as in recent years
  • the presenter is actor and tv presenter Stephen Mangan (since 2018)
  • the programme is 
    • commissioned by Sky Arts and 
    • made by Storyvault Films
    • you can access all programmes via Sky Arts on Freeview or via Now TV
  • the series is broadcast on 
    • a Wednesday evening - starting at 8pm. 
    • It's then broadcast again the following evening at 7pm 
    • and on the following weekend (but I forget when)
  • Programme Format:
    • Artists enter with a self-portrait created within the last 5 years.
    • They are selected on merit by the panel of expert judges. 
    • Nine artists compete per heat 
    • At the heats they are given four hours to paint a surprise celebrity sitter. 
    • Each heat winners then competes at the Semi-Final.
    • Three of the Semi-Finalists go through to the Final but only one is selected as the overall winner.
    • These were the Terms and Conditions of Entry / Participation for all the selected artists
  • Prize: The winner receives 
    • a £10,000 commission to produce an artwork that will go on public display at a National Institution (which changes every year) plus 
    • £500 of art supplies from Cass Art.

What's different?


There are three new Judges - Eva Langret, Jonathan Yeo, and Katy Hessel 

(see my post The NEW Portrait Artist of the Year Judges for longer and much more detailed summaries and assessments of them
  • Eva Langret we saw in LAOTY 2025 as a new Judge replacing Kate Bryan initially (re LAOTY 2026) but it's now clear she is the bang up to date and heavy weight substitute for Kathleen Soriano. She is the Director of Frieze London and Vice Chair of the Camden Art Centre.
  • Jonathan Yeo is "the artist" replacement for Tai Shan Shierenberg for Portrait Artist of the Year only. (I understand Tai continues for LAOTY). I'm not a fan of his portraiture due to the predominance of a lot of "head and hands" and odd connections between the two - although he is excellent at capturing a good likeness. (see my blog post The King Charles Portrait by Jonathan Yeo.) He has been a trustee at the National Portrait Gallery since 2018. He seems to be a portrait painter who likes to paint celebrities and other well known people (like some of the sitters in this series) and is described by Sky as 
A portrait painter whose work you almost certainly know
  • Katy Hessel - a British art historian, broadcaster, author, columnist and curator dedicated to highlighting women artists throughout history. She has an Instagram account @thegreatwomenartists 

The Celebrity Sitters for Portrait Artist of the Year

This year’s celebrity sitters include - in alphabetical order below. I think all my links are correct.

  • Alison Balsom - a retired English trumpet soloist. She is also an arranger, producer, and music educator and multiple award winner - including Artist of the Year in 2013!
  • Danny Beard - a British drag performer and singer
  • Grace Campbell - a British comedian, filmmaker, writer and presenter
  • Jung Chang - a Chinese-born British author. She is best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans
  • Munya Chawawa - a British–Zimbabwean actor, comedian and comedy rapper
  • Rylan Clark - an English television and radio personality and presenter and winner of Celebrity Big Brother
  • Grace Dent - an English columnist, broadcaster and author. 
  • Dexter Fletcher - an English film director and actor
  • Nikita Gill - an Irish-Indian poet, playwright, writer and illustrator
  • Yalda Hakim - an Afghan-born Australian broadcast journalist, Lead World News presenter for Sky News, and documentary maker.
  • Lennie James - a British actor the theatre, television and film
  • Jeremy King - a restaurateur and creator of “fiercely independent” restaurants
  • Jamie Lloyd - a British theatre director and producer in the West End and on Broadway
  • Deborah Meaden a British businessperson and TV personality who ran a multimillion-pound family holiday business. She is best known as a Dragon  appearances as a 'Dragon' on Dragons' Den.
  • Danielle de Niese - an Australian-American lyric soprano
  • Kojey Radical a British musician, creative director and mixed media visual artist.[2]
  • Joanna Scanlan - a British actress and writer
  • Anthony Scaramucci - an American financier and broadcaster and host of the US edition of The Rest Is Politics podcast
  • Arti Shah - an Olivier Award winning actress and motivational speaker. She is core part of the creature team behind the Disney-era Star Wars films
  • Michelle de Swarte an English actress, comedian, presenter, and former model
  • Sheridan Smith - an award winning English actress and singer
  • Louis Theroux an award winning British and American journalist, broadcaster, documentarian and author. 
  • Matt Weston - an English skeleton racer and double Olympic, World and European champion
  • Vanessa Williams - an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer.

The Semi Final Sitters are Bridgerton stars Daniel Francis and Ruth Gemmell

The Sitter for the Final is Heston Blumenthal an English celebrity chef, television personality and food writer.

The Sitter for the Commission is actor and musician Damian Lewis for the National Portrait Gallery.

My reviews after each PAOTY episode

As usual - since Series ?? in 2018 - I write a very detailed review of each episode. The aim is to:
  • highlight who's involved (so if you are participating make sure all your online media is up to date and easily accessible!!)
  • highlights themes identified by me during the programme - I will naturally repeat themes identified in previous series, because "old standards" are as repetitive as "the same big mistakes"
  • highlights my BIG TIPS - which essentially are ways in which you can help yourself on the day
  • lists who get shortlisted and who wins.
There is many an artist who has met me / contacted me to thank me for me for these reviews which they found very helpful in preparing for their participation. One winner was very clear that one particular tip was 

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What are the PAOTY artists doing now?


Reviews & Learning Points (PAOTY Series 5-12)


Series 12 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2025)


    Series 11 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2024)


    Series 10 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2023)


    Series 9 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2022)


    Series 8 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2021)


    Series 7 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2020)


    Series 6 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Spring 2020)


    Series 4 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Winter / Spring 2018)

    PLUS if you want to find out more.....
    Posted by Making A Mark on Tuesday, September 29, 2026
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