Which Media wins PAOTY?

The following is a query from my post on Facebook about my review of PAoTY Episode 4 2026

Does this mean the artists are prejudged and precluded from winning by their chosen medium?
Esme Roberts

I decided to go through those who have won and look at the media which has helped them win. To date we have had 

• Oils x 7
• Acrylics / Mixed media x 2(?)
• Charcoal x 1
• Coloured Pencils x 1
• Monochrome Print x 1

Traditional oil paint remains the most dominant winning medium - but Judges have also awarded the win to artists using other media.

However note, from the details below, that not all continue to use their primary media for the £10,000 Commission Portrait. I'm guessing this, in part, depends on which institution the commission is for.

(Note: it remains a mystery as to whether the £10,000 first prize is paid by Sky Arts or the institution. However it's a not untypical artist's fee for a decent size portrait by a portrait artist of repute.)

LINKS BELOW are to 

• either the artist's website 
• or my reviews of the episodes (which started at the end of Series 3)

Media used by PAOTY Winners

Series 1 Nick Lord used Acrylic, Spray Paint, Oil Pastel, Paint Markers on Canvas (?)

• Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC in the Final and Sophie Dahl as his commission
• painted Hilary Mantel for his Commission using  as his commission for the British Library

Series 2: Christian Hook painted 

• Sir Ian McKellen in the National Portrait Gallery and boxer Amir Khan as his commission
• his commission was to paint Alan Cumming for the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland

The internet (but not his website) tells me that he paints using a mix of acrylics, water-based oils, traditional oils, and mixed media.

Waiting to hear who has won, Christian Hook in the middle

Series 3: Gareth Reid used Nitram Charcoal and red Pastel in the Final. He won with a portrait of Tom Courtenay and a Commission painting of The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb His commission was of Graham Norton and was for the National Gallery of Ireland - so he switched to oils for that.

Series 3 Final Portraits of Sir Tom Courtenay
and the Commission (The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb)
Nitram Charcoal and pastel
by Gareth Reid

Series 4 Samira Addo won with 

• oil on canvas portraits of Emili Sande and a Finals Commission Zandra Rhodes, the fashion designer for the Fashion and Textile Museum. 
• She then did a portrait of Kim Cattrall (oil on canvas) for the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool

portraits of Zandra Rhodes and Emili Sande
by Samira Addo

Series 5: Duncan Shoosmith won with 

• portraits painted in oils on boards of Laura Linney (in the Final) and Dame Cleo Laine (commission for the Final). 
• He then painted Sir Tom Jones in oils for the £10k Commission

Paintings in the competition by Duncan Shoosmith (left to right) Self Portrait, Jodie Comer, Laura Linney (in the Final) Courtney Pine, Dame Cleo Laine (Commission for the Final)

Series 6: Christobel Blackburn won with oil on linen portraits of Lemn Sissay and a Commission Portrait of Nile Rogers, for the Royal Albert Hall
(She won just as Covid was starting - and somehow I missed doing a blog post re the final and the Commission)

Portraits of Lemn Sissay and her Final Commission

Series 7: Curtis Holder won with coloured pencil portraits of Eddie Izard. He also did a £10k Commission portrait of Carlos Acosta

Review: Episode 4 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

PAOTY Episode 4

As usual, this review of Episode 4 follows my standard format, which covers:

• the three sitters
• the nine artists
• self-portrait submissions
• themes arising in the episode
• who the sitters chose
• the shortlist for a place in the semi-finals of PAOTY 2026
• the winner
• the sitters for the next episode.

The Arti Shah "Cheese" (what they call one of the segments)
- before she chooses which finished artwork to take home.

This post is a bit later again this week due to four days this week spent connecting my neck with the NHS. Those who follow on Facebook will know what I'm talking about!

Yesterday I was supposed to have two more "flexion" X-rays (to be absolutely 100% sure I've not broken my neck in two places!) but that didn't happen due to a paperwork cockup. Then this morning phone calls with neurosurgery sorting it out - and they phoned me! The end is in sight - hopefully tomorrow.....

Episode 4: The Sitters

To me they all seemed to be very good sitters, staying remarkably still.

The sitters were:

• Danny Beard - a British drag performer and singer who won the fourth series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. He has also appeared on other popular television reality tv competitions and tends to do reasonably well. 

Danny Beard - in drag

• Arti Shah -  a person of reduced stature (she's just four feet tall) who is an actress and motivational speaker with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. Her most recent roles has involved starring as Paddington in Paddington: The Musical in London’s West End - which won Best New Musical at the Laurence Olivier Awards in April 2026. She's also very active in the world of Creature FX where she with prosthetics, movement reference, and motion capture.to bring creatures to life.

Manny Woodard meeting Arti Shah for the first time

• Yalda Hakim - an Afghan-born Australian broadcast journalist who grew up in Sydney and worked for Australian TV before moving to the BBC and subsequently Sky News as Lead World News presenter. She is also a documentary maker. She is a specialist in Middle Asia and is a fluent speaker in 5 languages: English, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and Pashto - and she's learning Mandarin. She's the daughter of Afghan refugees and her special object was a bowl made of lapis lazuli - which comes from Afghanistan, which was wonderful to see.

Episode 4: The Artists

three of the artists - Sammy, Suzanne and Luke
talking with their sitter - Danny Beard

There is a profile of the artists on the PAOTY website. Below you get a mini profile of each artist which is missing from that page.

THE ARTISTS, in alphabetical order, are:

• Sammy Alam (Instagram) - a fashion student from Montreal, Quebec, Canada now based in London. He completed his Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Central St Martins in 1925.
• Suzanne Barton (Instagram) - A former author and illustrator of children's books based in Oxford. She has done classes with the Art Students League (New York),  Sunningwell School of Art, and Heatherleys. She became interested in oil painting in 2021. Her submission for this competition was her first ever self portrait.
• Oliver Bedeman (Instagram) - a contemporary figurative painter who specialises in portraiture and reverse oil painting on glass. He is based in Oxfordshire and works primarily from life and also as an art teacher. He graduated from the University of Brighton in 2007 with a B.A (Hons) Fine Art Painting. Followed by the Postgraduate Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School. He has been successful in being selected for leading awards eg Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (See my two posts about "Artists with their Paintings" in 2018 and 2024). Prior to this he was selected for The Threadneedle Prize in 2016 and 2018. His track record to date suggests to me he will, in due course, be approved for membership of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

Oliver Bedeman - with his self portrait (reverse oil painting on glass)
outside Battersea Arts Centre where PAOTY heats are filmed

• Harry Garner (Instagram) - Now based in Liverpool, he was Born in rural Leicestershire into a multi-generational farming family, he left the family farm to study Fine Art & Art History at the Liverpool School of Creative and Performing Arts, graduating with First Class Honours in 2019. He is now 
• Svetlana Kornilova (Instagram) A Russian artist who now lives in London. She studied art in Russia.  
• Luke McKenzie (Instagram) - an artist and writer based in Newcastle - with a BA (Hons) Fine Art (2024) from Newcastle University. His artwork is inspired by the high renaissance and explores themes of queer martyrdom. He is very used to painting drag queens. He very definitely got paired with the right sitter!
• Sebastien Shead (Instagram) - a retail associate and an art student from a village in North Yorkshire - now based in London. He has a BA in Fine Art (Bath Spa University 2024) which allowed him to spend time on his studies of the methods and materials of the Old Masters. Followed by two years spent studying observational drawing and painting at the Heatherley School of Art. Which means I attended his graduation show this summer.
• Minnie Themba (Instagram) - a fine art student, currently studying for a BA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins. 
• Manny Woodard (Instagram) - Based in Arundel. She is a sculptor who has developed her drawing activities of late. She began making portraits in 2023 after being accepted into the Worthing Portrait Artist of the Year competition (based on PAOTY). In 2025, she won the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Purchase Prize for Drawing. She now draws from life every week at local art groups, finding the study of faces and character endlessly fascinating

Episode 4: Self Portrait Submissions

Review: Episode 3 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

Apologies for the late publication of my review of Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026. This is not one of my better reviews for a variety of reasons.

I had a few distractions last week 

• Tuesday: Met with Commissioning Editor of a reputable publisher and got commissioned to write a second art book, of which more in due course - but I'm excited and had started jotting things down - which was a major distraction - before...
• Wednesday: got up very early to escort my other half partner for his surgery - and then got sent back home because of no bed;
• Thursday: an excruciating pain developed in the back of my neck (fracture from recent fall or cervical spondylosis?) which painkillers did not dampen down. The only thing that worked was an Icepack - tied on with a scarf! So I went looking for solutions.... which lost a day... plus did a 111 assessment and got a GP appointment and had a very bad night's sleep despite trying every pain medication! 
• Friday: Saw the GP - discussed what it might be; got an appointment for an x-ray and appointment with normal GP for next week. PLUS I developed a very "wet nose" sneezy cold - presumably caught from sitting around in crowded hospitals and GP surgeries!
• Very tired all through Friday and Saturday.

Anyway, so now on to what was supposed to be one of the intended brightspots of the week - my review of Episode 3 of PAOTY Series 13.

I sneezed constantly through writing most of this....

PAOTY Episode 3

"A little bit of judging"

This is my review of Episode 3 which covers:

• the three sitters
• the nine artists
• self-portrait submissions
• themes arising in the episode
• who the sitters chose
• the shortlist for a place in the semi-finals of PAOTY 2026
• the winner

Episode 3: The Sitters

The Aberfan Portraits

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster in South Wales. 

A colliery spoil tip soaked by rain collapsed down a hillside. Around 150,000 tonnes of wet slurry crashed into the village of Aberfan. The Pantglas Junior School was directly in its path and was buried. In total 116 children and 28 adults were killed in the Junior School, part of the neighbouring Secondary School and a nearby row of houses. It happened at 9.15am and no survivors were found after 11am.

A new BBC programme "Unseen: The Aberfan Portraits" tells the story of how paintings were created of some of the children who were lost. (see below for how to watch it)

An artist called William Richardson worked in North Wales, Llandudno, sketching visitors on holiday and celebrities. He was greatly affected by what had happened. He very much wanted to help the families who has lost children. Which is how he came to paint their portraits from family photos. In all he painted about a 100 portraits.

Some of the portraits of Aberfan children lost in the disaster
painted by William Richardson

The paintings were not small, as these extracts from the BBC film illustrate

Jeanette Keane - with the portrait of her sister Edwina

Denise Morgan with her portrait of her younger sister Annette

Importantly, the portraits recreated the children within the family home and enabled people to talk about them - and to them - again.

They are now being passed down to the generations or donated to local museums so that this important record of their existence ensures they will never be forgotten.

I don't know if William Richardson was ever honoured for what he did - but I rather think he should have been.

You can watch the programme about the portraits on BBC iPlayer - Unseen: The Aberfan Portraits

I remember the disaster really well. At the time I was 12, just a few years older than the children who were killed. I'll never ever forget the shock of seeing the television news and the Junior School which was submerged and destroyed by the coal slurry. Inside it were 116 children who never made it out alive.

Pantglas Junior School
and the efforts to retrieve the bodies of the living and the dead

Review: Episode 2 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

PAOTY 2026 Episode 2 Artists with self portraits

The Sitters for the Second Episode of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 were Louis Theroux, Anthony Scaramucci and Joanna Scanlon and one of them made it to the shortlist twice - while another missed out!

This is my review of Episode 2 which covers:

• the artists
• the sitters
• self-portrait submissions
• themes arising in the episode
• who the sitters chose
• the shortlist
• the winner

PAOTY Episode 1

Episode 2: The Sitters

Two of the sitters
Anthony Scarramucci and Joanna Scanlon

Unlike the first episode, the three sitters had very diverse backgrounds and occupations. All are aged above 50 so a generally more relaxed set of sitters.

• Louis Theroux (age 56) is a presenter and BBC documentary maker of some renown. His programmes - often about odd people or organisations - have won him three BAFTAs and a Royal Television Society Television Award. Somebody gave him some very bad advice about what to bring.
• Anthony Scarramucci's claim to fame is he briefly served (11 days) as Trump's  White House communications director in 2017. Age 64, he started out working at Goldman Sachs - ininvestment banking, equities, and private wealth management - before going on to found his own investment firm and subsequently write a number of books. Since April 2024, I've been listening to him as one half of "The Rest is Politics US Edition" podcast with Katty Kay - and he's very good!
• Joanna Scanlon (age 65) is a British actress and writer. She's had a number of nominations for various awards and won a BAFTA for best actress in a leading role in 2020. I remember her best as a completely pivotal person in "The Thick of It" which satirised the inner workings of government, which used to be much appreciated by those of us who'd been in there!

Episode 2: The Artists

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maggie McManus (@maggiemcmanusart)

Left to right: Nasha Cash, Alice Parsloe, Maggie Macmanus, Mackenzy Beard, Andrea Broug, Joshua Obichere, Sam Reeves, Joanna Houghton, Jake Fern.

The artists, in alphabetical order, are:

• Makenzy Beard (Instagram) (Linkedin)(age 19) from Swansea in South Wales, her appearance on the programme got her a spot on her local BBC News programme. She is an established Welsh portrait artist who earned international recognition from a very young age. Age 14, she started painting in the garden shed during Covid lockdown. Next she had work accepted for the RA Summer Exhibition. Recently she has worked with a gallery in Cardiff where she has held multiple sellout solo-exhibitions and raised over £45k for charity since her painting journey began. Her work has also been featured in The Times, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, ITV News, Sky News with Alastair Stewart, The Times Radio. She became a professional artist, in September 2025, while having a gap year after her A Levels. She also plans to do a philosophy degree.
• Andrea Broug (Instagram) (age 18) - A sixth form student, currently sitting her "A" Levels. Now based in London, she is a former student of North Halifax Grammar School. She likes to explore cultural identity, familial bonding, and historical representations of skin tones and Black history in painting
• Nasha Cash - she is a Sheffield born, multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator who’s spent the last decade living and working in Manchester. She does "Live Painting and Murals" and "Speed Portraiture for Events". She's worked with a number of clients to create works for many different projects, campaigns and events.
• Jake Fern (Instagram)- a British portrait and landscape artist living and working in Saltdean, Brighton, England. He usually works from life and on commission re. portraits. BELOW Eva Langret was asking a question (in true Socratic method - designed to stimulate creative thinking) rather than giving tips! This is a link to a very interesting interview with him by "Artists and Illustrators"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jake Fern (@jake_fern_art)

• Joanna Houghton (Instagram)- an artist based in Manchester. Originally from North Wales, Joanna graduated from Manchester School of Art with a degree in Illustration in 2012. Her submission was a very small drawing of her one year old in coloured pencils.
• Maggie McManus (Instagram) - Originally from Leeds, now living in Manchester, teaching secondary Art full time and painting. She describes herself as an art teacher, artist and mother.
• Joshua Obichere (Instagram) - from East London. MA Fine Art, Fine/Studio Arts, General from Central St. Martins. Master of Education - MEd from Cambridge University. Full time Artist and Art Educator passionate about creativity, art for race and social justice. He runs workshops as one half of an art duo. He talked very confidently about his process of using grout and oil paints to create portraits. Jonathan Yeo commented he was one of the most original artists in terms of the materials he was using. He paints by icing the outline in grout.
• Alice Parsloe (Instagram) - an artist and former actor based in North London. She now freelances as a voiceover artist. She works with oil pastels on cardboard.
• Sam Reeves (Instagram, Facebook) - a Fine Art student studying at Liverpool Hope University, who specialises in realistic portraiture of people and pets. He works primarily in oil paint. He's due to graduate in June 2027. He's participated in a number of exhibitions. This was his self portrait The Gridded Self

Self Portrait Submissions

Judges viewing the self portrait submissions.

Review: Episode 1 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

This week we had the screening of the first episode of the brand new series (13th) of Portrait Artist of the Year - with a brand new set of Judges!

As I have been doing every year since 2018, I'm writing a review of every episode of this thirteenth series.

Series 13 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year

This review post considers:

• The Competition
• Then Commission
• The (New) Judges
• The sitters
• The artists
• Self-portrait submissions
• Themes observed during the episode - and observations on different approaches
• Portraits and the Judging
• Shortlist
• The winner
• Next episode
• Reference (previous posts re. 2026 - and how to access posts re previous series)

About the Context

The Competition

Sky Arts runs a competition every year called Portrait Artist of the Year. This is the 13th Series - and I have been reviewing every episode of every series on Making A Mark since 2018. (Check out my Call for Entries: Portrait Artist of the Year 2026).

It comprises

• a series of heats, - with nine artists painting 3 sitters - followed by
• a semi final - of all the heat winners
• a Final of the best three in the Semi Final
• a Commission by the winner of the Final

The Heats, Semi Final and Final are typically all held in the Grand Hall at Battersea Arts Centre. People can get tickets to watch and many do. I watched Heat 2 this year in April this year - and have lots of pics!

Battersea Arts Centre

I wrote about how the series works in detail in my Call for Entries post so won't repeat it here.

There are 72 artists in Series 13 - meaning we have 8 heats. The order of the episodes is generally NOT the same as the order of the episodes. Unless I turn up in the next episode in which case they may have changed the rule.

 

The Series Commission - for the National Portrait Gallery

This year, the £10,000 commission is from the National Portrait Gallery to paint a portrait of musician and actor Damien Lewis. 

There's an interesting MEDIA TWIST with the commission being for the NPG. 

I would draw a very big distinction between images in the collection for historical reasons and images on the walls of the NPG

• The portraits the NPG typically hangs in the galleries are those painted in OIL - on the grounds of longevity. 
• This instantly rules out all those using other media eg watercolour or pastels.

The Primary Collection contains more than 11,000 portraits. Of these about 4,000 are paintings, sculptures and miniatures, approaching 60% of which are regularly displayed, with the intention to show a further selection. In addition, there are almost 7,000 light-sensitive works on paper, shown on a rotating basis of about 300 items a year to avoid excessive light exposure and thus to minimise deterioration and fading. Introduction to the Primary Collection

(There are 

• 1,446 watercolours in the collection - but almost all are miniatures or very small portraits of a very historical nature (ie Reference Collection) with a very few more recent drawings of famous people which might be included in a temporary exhibit
• 5 paintings in egg tempera
• 34 paintings in acrylic - because of the issues with cracking which emerged over time? The only important (royal) paintings painted in acrylic hung in the galleries were painted in the 1980s. 
• 118 portrait drawings in charcoal
• 22 portrait drawings in graphite - again mainly miniatures)
• no pastels at all.)

This is a logistics and communication issue for the programme organisers. If you know the commissioning organisation is a national gallery, then you really need to be frank about what this means for the prospective participants in the competition.

e.g. Any media is fine for participation in the heats but progression is likely to favour oils.

The Judges

After very many years of moaning about the previous Judges, we have three new Judges. 

I wrote about their backgrounds back in February in The NEW Portrait Artist of the Year Judges. They are

• Eva Langret - Director of Frieze London
• Jonathan Yeo - portrait painter
• Katy Hessel - art historian, author and braodcaster

Three new Judges for Series 13 in 2026

(Lto R): Eva Langret, Katy Hessel and Jonathan Yeo

One of things I'll be looking at as I trawl around the internet is viewers' views on the new Judges - and will maybe write another post on your views.

PAOTY Episode 1

Episode 1: The Sitters

The three sitters were all actors. In the order they were introduced they are:

• Lenny James - A 61 year old English actor of Afro-Trinidadian parents, best known for portraying 
• Morgan Jones in the AMC series The Walking Dead (2010–2018)
• DCI Tony Gates in Line of Duty series one
• and more recently in Mr Loverman
• He's a big fan of Spurs and brought a shirt
• Sheridan Smith OBE - A 45 year old English actress and singer who is probably best known for characters in a series of sitcoms. She has been awarded two Olivier Awards, a British Academy Television Award, and a National Television Award, and brought her BAFTA (for Mrs Biggs) as one of her items.
• Vanessa Williams is a 63 year old American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She was the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. Back in April she was starring in The Devil Wears Prada at the Dominion Theatre in the West End stage where she was playing the Miranda Priestley role.

Sheridan Smith and Vanessa Williams back to back
in their segments

Episode 1: The Artists

I do a lot of research about the artists, as you get the highly edited version and I like the full public version! I find it also invariably makes more sense of some of the Judge's decisions.

"Turning Thirteen" by Frances Bell wins HSFK Portrait Award Visitor's Choice

I have to say I am not in the least bit surprised that "Turning Thirteen" by Frances Bell has won the Visitor's Choice award - as announced by the National Portrait Gallery this afternoon on Facebook and Instagram.

Visitor's Choice Award - Frances Bell

Frances Bell and her daughter 
with her portrait of "Turning Thirteen"
at the HSFK Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Gallery, London
© Making A Mark

Here's what I had to say about Frances Bell and her portrait back in my post Portrait Award 2026 - Artists with their paintings (Children and Parents)

Here's MY reasons for why Frances's portrait won.

Call for Entries: Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2027

You have TWO MONTHS to submit a portrait as an entry to the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2027 (aka The Portrait Award!)

The BIG CHANGE this year is 

• you do NOT have the Christmas break for final titivating - because....
• the deadline for your entry is Tuesday 1 December 2026

This date change is not highlighted on the website. If you have friends who sometimes / always enter it might be worth making sure they're aware of the date change. You could always send them a link to this blog post! :)

This is about:

• WHY enter the HSFK Portrait Award?
• WHO can submit an entry?
• WHAT sort of portrait you can submit?
• HOW to complete and submit your entry

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 at the Private View!

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award  2027
CALL FOR ENTRIES IMAGE

First of all the full title of both the competition and the award is the "Herbert Smith Kline Portrait Award" - but that's too much and too long so I ALWAYS refer to it as either

• the HSFK Portrait Award
• or THE Portrait Award

The links to the official information are all included below.

Portrait Award 2026: The 10 portraits I liked the most

This is a post about the ten portraits I like the best in the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery. 

At the end I say which portrait will, I think, win the Visitors' Choice Award.

Portraits hanging in the HSFK Portrait Award competition
at the National Portrait Galllery

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

I've been reviewing the Portrait Award at the NPG since 2008 (see end) - which means I've looked at a lot of top quality portraits over the last 18 years.

• After my first impression on the Awards Night Viewing, I generally know which portraits have made a big impression on me 
• Interestingly they are not necessarily the winner or even the winners.
• It's something to do with being able to see the portraits in the context of an exhibition - and next to one another
• The next morning I get to see them all over again at the Press View morning - which enables me to check out whether I still think the same
• I then get to think about the portraits again while writing about the Artists with their Paintings (which used to be one very long post (eg Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings) but this year turned into five! (See the end for links to my blog posts). This always depends on whether the artist turned up AND wore their badge so I could spot them! (Some artists have not yet worked out yet that the buttons they are given to wear can generate them publicity!)

So what follows are:

• the portraits which stuck in my head
• the portraits which made me look more closely at them
• portraits which include some clever composition and design
• the ones with interesting sitters
• the ones which generated an emotional response
• a complete absence of prizewinners - except for one which I could not exclude

I should also mention that this list excludes some very good paintings which include things I really do NOT like - my classic example being tattoos - and hence got excluded simply because of that (given the title of this post!).

I've also noticed that a lot are by women artists - which is interesting. That's not why they were chosen though.

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

There is no rationale about the order in which they are listed - except I have ordered them by size - after the one which once seen can never be forgotten

The One which stuck in my head the most

Mark Dalessio wins £35,000 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026

American/French artist Marc Dalessio has won the £35,000 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026. He was presented with at an Awards Ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery in London on Tuesday night.

Marc Dalassio with his award-winning portrait 

Jean-Denis, 2025 © Marc Dalessio

With a notably restrained and economical use of paint, Marc Dalessio’s Jean-Denis achieves a striking immediacy, where every mark carries weight. The judges enjoyed the subtle sliver of white from the sitter’s shirt that becomes a focal point, activating the composition. The portrait offers an empathetic depiction of its subject, conveying a timeless presence that feels both regal and understated.

The Judges Comments  

For the record, all my guesses of who would win what were CORRECT!

The two youngest award winners
- just before they announced the prizes!

Below you can see 

• photos of the artists with their portraits which were taken Tuesday evening.
• Plus a photo of them receiving their award. Apologies for the side on view. I usually pick a better spot.

[I was hoping for access to the NPG ones being taken by the photographer who was in prime position - but for some unfathomable reason, rather than being available Wednesday morning (as they always used to be) they're not likely to be available until the end of the week.
So these are the only photos of the Awards Ceremony online so far!!]

Below are the profiles of the artists and the portraits which won the prizes. 

Words about the painting and what the Judges thought are from the press release - hence quotes.