The National Portrait Gallery in London unveiled this year the 44th edition of its renowned portrait competition, the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award. Between the announcement of the final selection on May 18, 2026, and the awards ceremony on June 23, 2026, the competition once again highlighted the vitality of contemporary portraiture, with over 1,470 entries from 63 countries.
From all the applications received, a jury selected 51 portraits for the final exhibition, and four artists for the prize race: Chloe Cox, for What's Mine is Yours (2024), Marc Dalessio, for Jean-Denis (2025), Joel Nichols, for In Our Borderlands (2025) and Michael Slusakowicz, for Charlie and Magda (2026).
The jury for this edition included Melissa Blanchflower (chief curator at Turner Contemporary), artist and set designer Es Devlin, exhibition curator Amy Emmerson Martin, artist and Slade director Mary Evans, and Victoria Siddall, director of the National Portrait Gallery, who chaired the panel.
The winners: Marc Dalessio takes first prize
On June 23, 2026, the Gallery announced the winners. Marc Dalessio won the first prize, worth £35,000, for his portrait Jean-Denis . The artist, trained at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence and long known for his plein air landscapes, turned to portraiture after settling in southwest France. His subject, Jean-Denis, a neighbor who knocked on his door one morning asking him to paint his portrait, sat for six sessions. The jury praised the economical and controlled use of paint, as well as the subtle sheen of the white shirt that enlivens the entire composition.
The second prize (£12,000) went to Chloe Cox for *What's Mine is Yours* , a double portrait of Marva and Lionel Warmington, a Birmingham couple who have fostered over 200 children in the last thirty years. The jury particularly appreciated the joy and sensitive connection conveyed by the work.
Michael Slusakowicz received third prize (£10,000) for Charlie and Magda , a portrait with vibrant colors and lush foliage, inspired by Gauguin and Rousseau. The jury highlighted the visual originality and impressive execution of this composition, constructed from a digital photomontage.
Finally, the Young Artist Award (£9,000), which recognizes an artist aged 18 to 30, was awarded to Joel Nichols for In Our Borderlands , a large portrait born from an evening with friends in Oxford, where light refracted by a mirror had captured the face of a friend, Jo. The jury praised the mysterious atmosphere of the work and its technical mastery of light.
A free, travelling exhibition
The 51 selected portraits are on free display at the National Portrait Gallery from June 25 to October 7, 2026, before continuing their tour to the Derby Museum and Art Gallery (November 21, 2026 – February 21, 2027), and then to The Gallery at The Arc, in Winchester.
The competition, with a total prize purse of over £66,000, remains one of the world's leading events in its category. Since its inception, it has attracted over 50,000 entries from more than 100 countries, and its exhibition has been seen by over six million visitors. The prize is sponsored by the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, formed in June 2025 from the merger of Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin.
