CALL FOR ENTRIES: Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026

The Call for Entries for the HSFK Portrait Award 2026 has been published.

Artists aged 18 and over are invited to submit entries of painted portraits to this prestigious annual competition and exhibition which is run by and held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The deadline for entries is 22.00 (GMT) on Tuesday 6th January 2026

Those which are shortlisted will be displayed in the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery held between 25 June and 7 October 2026. 

Very many artists who have succeeded in being selected for this exhibition in the last two decades started out by reviewing my summary of the call for entries! I know because they told me when I met them at the Awards Ceremonies and the press views (2008-2025).

The highly successful competition aims to encourage artists over the age of 18 to focus upon, and develop, the theme of portraiture in their work. Since its inception, the competition has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries, and the exhibition has been seen by over 6 million people.  

Summary of Key Information about the Call for Entries

Note: Anybody who thinks I'm going to repeat four totally unmemorable names every time I write about this competition is mistaken. There was a reason the BP was called the BP!!  Hence I refer to this competition as The Portrait Award or The HSFK Portrait Award. 

I am going to start as I did last year - by highlighting the many good reasons why all aspiring portrait artists should enter this competition.

This post, written in 2023, tells you why you should enter WHY enter The Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (London)

Why enter The Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery?

Just getting selected - of itself a very valuable addition to any portrait painter's CV - means 

• your portrait painting will hang in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London from 25 June - 7 October 2026
• you are also eligible to win one of the prizes! You could also win one of the valuable prizes
• first prize is £35,000
• second prize is £12,000
• third prize is £10,000
• the Young Artist's Prize (for artists aged between 18 and 30) £9,000
• i.e. no increase from last year.

All selected artists aged between 18 and 30 will automatically be considered for both the Young Artist Award and the Portrait Award, but an individual cannot win both. 

The aim of the Young Artist Award is to profile their talent and support the development of their practice. I met a number of young artists at the exhibition last year.

Rachit Khandelwal (b.2004) with Finlay Trevor (b.2003) both exhibited in 2025 

and were both art students in Scotland 

(at the Glasgow School of Art and Edinburgh School of Art respectively)

The portrait is Finlay's Quest for The Mackintosh Man (2024)

Note that those shortlisted for prizes MUST attend the Awards Ceremony on the evening of Tuesday 23 June 2026.

PLUS, there is the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Artist Commission worth £14,000 

• ALL ARTISTS chosen to exhibit in 2026 and 2027’s Portrait Award exhibitions will be considered for the bi-annual Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Artist Commission, which has a value of £14,000. 
• This will be announced in 2027.

Now you have a better appreciation of the incentives - on to the practical matters......

Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings

The popularity of my "Artists with their Portraits" post every year - in relation to the Portrait Award Exhibition - is a great incentive to get as many pics as I can.

What my photographs help you to do - which the online gallery does NOT - is to see the size of the painting relative to the artist who painted it.

Inevitably, I don't manage to capture every artist. Although I've got most....

(Mainly, I think, because very many of the artists had not yet realised that the badge they get give to wear which says "artist" on it has a PURPOSE! ie. it enables all the journalists to recognise all those who have painted a portrait in the exhibition - so you can ask for a photo!)

At least this Press Preview morning was limited to the artists and their sitters and the press. Which was a HUGE improvement on past years where all the "hangers on" came along as well and well and truly got in the way.

So here are all the portraits of Artists with their Portraits. 
WARNING: This is A MAMMOTH POST and not a quick read. You will need sustenance to get to the end!

It provides:

• my photo of the artist with their painting
• LINKS for those who might wish to view/follow their work:
• website links are embedded in the artist's name - followed by their Instagram site 
• followed by text in quotes that has been written by somebody from information supplied by the artists but the author has included a few conclusions of their own and certainly has not understood all the words they used! See if you can work out which one I mean. The answer will be on Facebook in a few days
• Summary of education and appearances in exhibitions etc.

The latter might give some insight to aspiring artists as to the level of education and experience of most artists who are selected. That said, some are self taught and for at least one artist, this is their first exhibition!

Last year I organised my photos and associated artists in groups by country they live in.  

This year I'm organising the artists into groups by the TYPE OF SITTER - as follows

• Self Portraits
• Portraits of Parents and Children
• Portraits of Women
• Portraits of Men
• Portraits of Groups

The prizewinners come at the end of their relevant group.

Hopefully this will provide some insight into the very different ways people portray people who are "similar".

Self Portraits

I'm going to start with a couple of my favourites. The first is complex and needs three images! The second has a story behind it.

Shinji Ihara (Japan)

Light and Shadow (2025) By Shinji Ihara
Oil on canvas
(his self portrait appears in the shadow at the top - and....)

Shinji Ihara was in last year's Portrait Award with an absolutely stunning painting. He's returned this year with another one.

He's getting a special spot in this post because I think I'm going to be seeing him again (and again!). 

• His paintings are always about stories and are rather like a puzzle and get more and more interesting as you study them. His colouration and tonal control are also amazing!
• Last year he produced an an immaculate painting in terms of both story and the quality of the painting - where the focal point was a white cat which had just died.

The artists behind the Contemporary British Portrait Painters Exhibition 2025

These are all the lovely Portrait Artists of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters group who participated in their Annual Exhibition at Downstairs at The Department Store, in Brixton - which finished last Saturday.

The Artists of the CBPP at the 2025 Exhibition

Last Friday evening, I was supposed to be at The Vernissage (the end of exhibition drinks - what a very civilised idea!). Unfortunately, I'd expired in the heat of Chelsea and specifically of the Saatchi Gallery during the afternoon and needed to go home to the top speed on my fan and litres of non-alcoholic water! 

However, the group did one thing I'd asked if they could do - which was to take a photo of all the artists!

They did one last year - and below is my pic of them last year - and I thought it would be great if they could do it again.

The artists in the 2024 Exhibition by The CBPP

This is a group who include a lot of winners of major awards for Portraiture - including:

• Antony Williams (back row in blue) the 2024 winner of the HSF Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery.
• the BP Portrait Award winners in 2018 and 2013: Miriam Escofet (just in front of Antony) and Suzanne du Toit (blonde hair to Antony's right)
• Tim Benson who is one of the shortlisted artists who will be winning one of the prizes TONIGHT at the Portrait Awards Ceremony at the Nationa.l Portrait Gallery this evening - and I'll be there! I think I can spot Tim just to the right (as we look at it) of Curtis Holder.
• Frances Bell (inbetween Suzanne and Miriam) who won the top award at the Portrait Society of America this year AND the People's Choice Award
• Four PAOTY winners:
• Wendy Barratt (Series 10 - 2024), 
• Curtis Holder (Series 7 - Autumn 2020),  
• Duncan Shoosmith (Series 5 - 2019) and
•   Samira Addo (Series 4 - 2018)
• plus others who have won other notable prizes and awards.

How to join a top notch group of portrait painters?

So - there is a ceiling of 100 portrait painters in this group so scope for more to join - but you need to be a very committed PROFESSIONAL portrait artist in order to accepted. 

But if that's you - why not try an application? https://www.thecbpp.org/membership
However do READ CAREFULLY what it says!

If you are a professional artist and would like to apply to be considered for membership of the CBPP, please read the following information and guidelines. 

Our selection group meets twice a year (Spring and Autumn) to consider applications. We receive a large volume of applications and are therefore unable to offer feedback on applications. If unsuccessful, you can reapply after a minimum of twelve months.

Call for Entries: Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2025

You have one month left to get a portrait painted and enter the most prestigious portrait competition in the UK - the Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery

• now sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills (and formerly known as the BP Portrait Award). 
• I now call it THE Portrait Award! 

The highly successful competition aims to encourage artists over the age of eighteen to focus upon, and develop, the theme of portraiture in their work.

First of all, I have to apologise to regular followers for not highlighting this competition earlier. The announcement of the call for entries arrived at a different time of year to when it was normall published - and I unfortunately missed it.

By way of recompense, this post is all about the call for entries and is interspersed with my photos of past winners on the night they won their award!

However that said, let's get on with what you need to know.

Ben Sullivan -Winner in 2017 
and the most successful ever artist in this competition

Summary of Key Information about the Call for Entries 

Why enter The Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery?

I wrote two posts last year which 

• provides you with the incentives to enter - see WHY enter The Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (London)
• shows you who got selected in 2023 Selected Artists - HSF Portrait Award 2024 at the National Portrait Gallery

Since its inception, the competition has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries and the exhibition has been seen by over 6 million people. It has a first prize of £35,000, making it one of the largest for any global arts competition.

DOWNLOAD the full competition rules (PDF).

• if you get selected - which is itself a very valuable addition to any portrait painter's CV:
• your portrait painting will hang in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London from 10 July until 12 October 2025
• AND you could also win a valuable prize
• first prize is £35,000
• second prize is £12,000
• third prize is £10,000
• the Young Artist's Prize (for artists aged between 18 and 30) £9,000
• anybody over the age of 18 (as of 1 January 2024) living anywhere in the world can enter this competition - except for previous first prize winners and those employed by the NPG or the prize's sponsors!

Shortlist for The Portrait Award 2024

The Portrait Award 2024 at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG)in London received 1,647 entries from 62 countries.  

This is the latest 'edition' of this very prestigious art competition's history at the NPG which dates back to 1980. During that time it has had over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries and the exhibition has been seen by over 6 million people.

That said, having looked back at some of my previous posts (a number of which have focused on the numbers) there have been fewer entries this year. However, I think that's hardly surprising for an art competition attempting a relaunch with a new name after a three year break (due to the three year refurbishment of the NPG)!

Given the length of time since the last Portrait Award, this post covers:

• What is The Portrait Award? - a brief history plus a reference to past sponsors, past and past winners and their commissions
• The Portrait Awards 2024 - for the latest version of this very popular and prestigious portrait competition
• The Shortlisted Artists - who they are and what the shortlisted portraits look like
• The Judges - and how these have changed over the years....
• The Exhibition - dates and access and future blog posts!

The Portrait Award 2024: Shortlisted Portraits
- see more below

What is "The Portrait Award"?

If you're wondering exactly which competition this is it's important to know that the sponsorship has changed.

It is now called, as from 2023/24 "The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award" i.e. the sponsorship changed to being an international law firm. (see my post NEW! Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024 REPLACES BP Portrait Award (November 21, 2023)

Previous Sponsors

The award has had three sponsors to date:

• Imperial Tobacco (1980-82) - this was a competition which was set up with the specific aim of encouraging more young painters to take up portraiture. 
• The 1982 winner was Humphrey Ocean
• John Player & Sons (1983-89) - all entrants had to be under 40 and the entries had to be painted in oils or acrylic from life. 
• Winners during this era included Alison Watt OBE FRSE RSA and Tai-Shan Schierenberg
• BP (1990-2020) - the under 40 age group requirement was dropped in 2007. Winners included: James Lloyd, Stuart Pearson Wright, Benjamin Sullivan and Miriam Escofet
• after which the NPG was closed for three years for substantial refurbishment - reopening last summer.

which I covered in Winners of the National Portrait Gallery's Portrait Award + Commissions (January 17th 2023) which LISTS:

• ALL the artists who have ever won the Portrait Award organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London
• PLUS a link to ALL the commissions offered as part of their First Prize.
  

Each of these might be regarded as seeking to improve both brand recognition and reputation by sponsoring prestigious art institutions and awards. It's a fact of life everywhere you go. However, the nature of the sponsorship triggered lots of protests in latter years - including the refusal of prizes.

From my practical perspective, "short and snappy" is a requirement for the title of a competition which is referenced a lot.  (eg Australia has "The Archibald"). I cannot even remember all the names of the new sponsor (I kid you not!), let alone which order they come in so, as previously indicated, I am just going to call it "The Portrait Award" or "The Herbert". 

The Portrait Awards 2024

The new Portraits Awards are reduced by one - there is now no third prize:

• First Prize: £35,000 The prizewinning portrait will need to be retained by the Gallery for up to six months after the tour of the exhibition so that it can be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery (please note this is at the Gallery’s discretion). 
• Second Prize: £12,000 Third Prize: £10,000 
• Young Artist Award: £9,000 All selected artists aged between 18 and 30 will automatically be considered for both the Young Artist Award and the Portrait Award, but an individual cannot win both.  
• To be eligible for the Young Artist Award, artists must be 30 years of age or under as of 1 January 2023.

The Shortlisted Artists

The major change this year - with the new Portrait Award - is that only three artists have been shortlisted. 

Hitherto it has always been four - for the First, Second and Third places and the Young Artist Award - but it appears that the Third Prize has been ditched. Also no sign of a Travel Award...

Three artists have been shortlisted for the prestigious Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024.

• Zizi (2023) by Isabella Watling
• Jacqueline with Still Life (2020) by Antony Williams
• Lying (2020) by Catherine Chambers

So we have:

• two women and one man
• two are in their early 30s and one is in his 50s (my guess - since their ages have unusually not been listed)
• one very large painting and two paintings of a very similar size
• two portraits painted in 2020 - possibly for the last exhibition - which never happened?
• one Portrait Award stalwart, one by an artist who has been selected before and one by an artist selected for the first time.

I'm going to use my standard profile analysis for the information below - which I think other artists find helpful in seeing who gets selected

WHY enter The Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (London)

In this post I'm offering information and advice for those wanting to enter The Portrait Award Competition at the National Portrait Gallery in London (formerly known as the BP Portrait Award).

My audience for this post are all those

• who have entered in the past and want to have another go - but may have forgotten all the things it's wise to remember
• who have heard about this Portrait Award and would like to enter for the first time - and need a few tips to help their entry on its way 

What I'm going to say below is based in part on what has gone before.

See also my previous post NEW! Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024 REPLACES BP Portrait Award

The Most Successful Portrait Award Artist ever!

Ben Sullivan with Ginnie and 15 month old Edie (at her second BP Awards ceremony!)

Breech! - Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2017

Oil on canvas, 820 x 400mm

The Portrait Award - in the context of other Portrait Competitions

The Portrait Award has been around since 1980 

Its reputation has grown over time and it is now generally recognised as one of the most prestigious portrait awards in the world

What makes it different?

An International Competition

Unlike other leading portrait competitions - such as the Outwin Bouchever Portrait Competition in the USA and the Archibald Prize for Portraiture in Australia - which are limited to artists in the country that hosts the award, the Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery is 

• one of a very few open to International Artists and 
• very successful in attracting a huge number of entries by international artists. 

Indeed, in the last 40+ years, artists from over 100 countries have submitted over c.40,000 entries to this Portrait Award - and some of the winners have come from countries as diverse as the USA (2012), Germany (2014), Israel (2015) and Thailand/France (2020).  Prior to 2012, winners were almost always from the UK 

The number of international artists seemed to increase a lot after I started writing about the competition on an annual basis - and showing images of the portraits as photos and videos!

See section near the end of this post with information and tips for all International Artists.

See past blog posts about this award listed at the end - which contain images of portrait paintings selected for past exhibitions.

It's NOT the Portrait Competition with the top prize

There have certainly been Portrait Competitions in the past where the prize to the winner exceeds what is on offer at the National Portrait Gallery.

For example, as I write, the top prize in The 26th International annual competition for portraiture and figurative art run by the Portrait Society of America has a top prize of $50,000 (more than £40,000).

It does however offer 

• a very generous sum of £35,000 to the winner 
• PLUS the chance to add a prestigious collectoon to their CVs - by being offered the opportunity to contribute a portrait to the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. 

This is not the portrait which wins but rather another portrait of somebody who is a significant person in the UK - and is commissioned by the NPG at some stage after the win.  

It should also be noted that ONLY 60% of artists have been awarded a commission in addition to the cash prize. This can be for a variety of reasons - but an obvious one is that an artist needs to be suitable for the person whose portrait needs painting - and sometimes need to be in the same country at a time convenient to the person being painted.

Portrait Award Winners

Oddly, the artists who have won the Portrait Award and have then gone on to complete a commission for a portrait are NOT currently listed on the NPG website

They are however listed on this blog in a post I created in January (because I kept being asked about what's happening to the award!)

TIP: READ Winners of the National Portrait Gallery's Portrait Award + Commissions

A number of the past winners have gone on to become well known contemporary artists eg. Humphrey Ocean(1982); Alison Watt (1987), Tai-Shan Schierenberg (1989), Stuart Pearson Wright (2001) - who subsequently did a portrait of JK Rowling for the NPG,  Paul Emsley (2007) - who subsequently painted the Duchess of Cambridge for the NPG, Miriam Escofet (2018) who has subsequently painted a number of eminent people.

Sponsorship

Its sponsors since 1980 have included

• 1980-1989 - Imperial Tobacco / John Player (a tobacco company / brand name)
• 1990-2020 - BP (an oil company)
• from 2023 - Herbert Smith Freehills (a legal firm whose clients include BP and the National Portrait Gallery.

Age Limit

When sponsored by John Player and subsequently through the early years of the BP sponsorship, The Portrait Award was known for being a competition limited to those under the age of 40. 

However in 2007 as I was beginning to write about The Portrait Award (see all my blog posts at the end of this post), the competition was opened up to all international artists aged 18 and over (prior to entry) - and the range of experience and styles increased exponentially.

TIPS about entering The Portrait Award

My past Call for Entries Posts (see the end) contain LOTS of tips about entering.

Here's a round-up of aspects worth thinking about

NEW! Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024 REPLACES BP Portrait Award

Periodically people ask me about what's happening now the BP Portrait Award is no more. Now I can tell you - and this is what this post is about.

The National Portrait Gallery recently announced the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2024.

Key Essentials

The name

To all intents and purposes this is the John Player (1980-1989) / BP Portrait Award (1990-2020) with a new sponsor and a new name.

My first reaction was "what a mouthful!". I wonder how long before it's known as the HSF Portrait Award? Or maybe just The Portrait Award (sponsored by.....)

The rule with names is 

• If they are too long they don't get used. 
• If they are very short and roll off the tongue easily they're always used and may become the way the whatever becomes known.

My second that it's essentially the BP - but now sponsored by BP's by ​​international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. (see National Portrait Gallery criticised over choice of sponsor to replace BP). 

The one thing this competition did not need is the sort of long complicated name much loved by law firms!

However, and more importantly, it's worth noting that Herbert Smith Freehills is undertaking the role of re-opening sponsor after the National Portrait Gallery re-opened its doors after completing a three-year renovation programme. So I'm guessing getting the title for The Portrait Award is maybe part of a bigger deal.....

The Portrait Award

Anyway, enough of that. 

The Portrait Award is back and here's the key details followed tomorrow by a more detailed post tomorrow. (i.e. anybody who thinks I'm writing that name out in full every time has got another think coming!)

So the key essentials are as follows

• The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award Prizes:
• First Prize: £35,000
• Second Prize: £12,000 
• Third Prize: £10,000 
• Young Artist Award: £9,000 
• Deadline for submissions: 16th January 2024
• Who can apply? 
• Artists from all over the world 
• who MUST must be aged 18 years or over as of 1 January 2023.
• Artists who are not eligible are employees of the National Portrait Gallery, the sponsor, their agents and previous first prize-winners of the Portrait Award since 1980.
• What can you enter? One portrait only 
• which was completed between 1 January 2020 – 16 January 2024 (i.e. while there was no competition)
• which has never been submitted before
• The work entered must be predominantly painted in oil, tempera or acrylic and must be on a stretcher or board, preferably framed and unglazed. No watercolours, works on paper or pastels will be considered.
• What does it cost? £35 per entry
• How is work selected?
• A first round of selection will choose a longlist from digital entries
• Artists are then invited to send the actual portrait to London for a second round of judging
• The Portrait Award Exhibition opens next summer - a little later than usual - 11 July - 27 October 2024
• Those shortlisted for prizes must attend the Awards Ceremony on the evening of Tuesday 9 July 2024
• the winning portrait will be displayed in the NPG for 6 months

READ MORE: 

• DOWNLOAD The Rules of the Competition
• Tomorrow's blog post - in which I will provide more info and tips gleaned from reporting on this portrait award for over 15 years - since 2007! I've talked to lots of the artists and analysed a lot of the exhibitions.