LONDON.- Today, the National Portrait Gallery announces that entries are open to the 2025 Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize. The international competition, which celebrates and promotes the very best in contemporary portrait photography, is inviting submissions from 11 March 2025 until 10pm on 22 April 2025.
Witness the best in contemporary portrait photography! Explore the stunning winning and shortlisted images from the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize. Click here to purchase a book and discover the power of modern portraiture.
One of the most competitive photography awards in the world, the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize showcases the work of some of the most creative and cutting-edge contemporary photographers. The competition is open to everyone aged 18 and over from around the world, whether a leading professional, a talented amateur or an exciting emerging artist. Photographers are encouraged to interpret ‘portrait’ in its widest sense, with ‘photography focused on portraying people with an emphasis on their identity as individuals’. £15,000 will be awarded to the winner of the competition, with second prize receiving £3,000 and third prize £2,000.
A commission prize worth £8,000 will also be awarded, giving a chosen photographer the opportunity to create a portrait for the Gallery’s Collection. Jesse Navarre Vos, winner of the commission prize in 2024, will unveil a new portrait for the Collection at this year’s award ceremony in November. The exhibition will open in London on 13 November 2025 and run until 8 February 2026.
“Though in its eighteenth year, this year’s Prize is the first of my directorship and I’m very excited to see the submissions from 2025’s entrants. This prestigious award has a tradition of showcasing the work of some of the most skillful, thoughtful, and groundbreaking photographers working today, with photographs that offer powerful glimpses into unique experiences, relationships, and circumstances from all over the world. I wish everyone entering the best of luck - thank you for participating in the Prize and sharing your important work.” -- Victoria Siddall, Director, National Portrait Gallery
“This is the eighteenth anniversary of our partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize. Our enduring partnership has built a platform that celebrates the most exceptional photographic portraiture. We are delighted to continue working with the Gallery to expand opportunities for photographers worldwide to ensure that their remarkable art reaches a global audience.” -- Shane Gleghorn, Managing Partner, Taylor Wessing
Entrants to the competition are encouraged to submit works as a series, either a group of individual portraits based on a particular theme, or two or more photographs that form a single portrait when shown together, in addition to stand-alone portraits. One series of photographs submitted to the competition may be chosen by the judges to be exhibited in its entirety.
To enter the 2025 competition, photographers are required to upload their image(s) via the National Portrait Gallery’s competition platform. All images will be viewed anonymously by a panel of judges who will collectively select the prize winners and works for the exhibition. The digital platform can be accessed via www.competitions.npg.org.uk.
The entry fee for the competition is £22 per image. Photographers in receipt of Universal Credit or Pension Credit can enter this year’s Prize for free, and a new discount is in place for photographers who receive Disability Benefits, who are students or are between the ages of 18 and 25.
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