The National Portrait Gallery has opened entries to the 2026 Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, an international competition open to photographers aged 18 and over that celebrates the best in contemporary portrait photography. Deadline for entries is 21 April 2026 at 10pm BST.
Whether you are a professional, talented amateur or emerging artist, the competition is open to photographers around the world. Entrants are encouraged to interpret ‘portrait’ in its widest sense, with photography focused on portraying people and an emphasis on identity as individuals. This can be through standalone portraits or series. Series can either feature a group of individual portraits based on a particular theme, or two or more photographs that form a single portrait when shown together.
Prizes
£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. Hollie Fernando, winner of the commission prize in 2025, will unveil a new portrait for the Collection at this year’s award ceremony in November.
How to enter
To enter the 2026 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 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.
Visit www.competitions.npg.org.uk for details and entry.
Exhibition
The exhibition will open in London on 5 November 2026 and run until 17 January 2027.
Director of National Portrait Gallery, Victoria Siddall says, “Now in its nineteenth year, the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize is a highlight of our calendar and gives an insight into the extraordinary creativity, imagination and skill of photographers working all over the world today. Thank you to Taylor Wessing and good luck to everyone entering the competition this year, I look forward to the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in November.”
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