The National Portrait Gallery Invites the First Digital Submissions of Entries for the BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2015

The National Portrait Gallery invites the first digital submissions of entries for the BP Portrait Award from today, making it quicker and easier for artists from across the globe to enter their work for one of the most prestigious art competitions.

To enter the BP Portrait Award 2015 artists can now upload a photograph of their finished painting to the BP Portrait Award website, which will be considered by the judges in the first round of the competition. The entrants who are successful in this round will then be invited to hand-deliver or courier their work to a venue in London for the second round of judging and final exhibition selection. The new, simplified, entry process is a quicker and more cost-effective way for artists to submit their work to the competition.

Artists can enter at npg.org.uk/bp between now and the closing date for registration Tuesday 3 February 2015. Full competition rules and guidance for digital submission can be found online. The BP Portrait Award 2015 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from Thursday 18 June to Sunday 20 September 2015.

The prize winners and exhibition will be selected by a judging panel chaired by Pim Baxter, Deputy Director, NationalPortrait Gallery. The full panel will include Sarah Howgate, Contemporary Curator, National Portrait Gallery; KimMawhinney, Head of Art, National Museums Northern Ireland; Peter Monkman, Artist; Simon Schama, Historian; and Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts & Culture, BP.

2015 will mark the BP Portrait Award's 36th year at the National Portrait Gallery and 26th year of sponsorship by BP, and is a highly successful annual event aimed at encouraging artists over the age of eighteen to focus upon, and develop, the theme of portraiture in their work. The increasingly popular competition has a huge international reach, with the BP Portrait Award 2014 receiving 2,377 entries from 71 different countries.

Pim Baxter, Deputy Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, says: 'We are delighted this year to be able to offer artists from across the world a simplified and more cost-effective entry process for the BP Portrait Award 2015. Last year saw a record number of entries from 71 different countries and I look forward to seeing this year's submissions, and thank BP for their continuing support.'

Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP, says: 'This is an exciting new venture for the BP Portrait Award and I look forward to seeing how artists from around the world embrace this new way of submitting their work. We aim to give people unable to personally deliver their paintings an opportunity to participate in this internationally renowned competition.'

The BP Portrait Award, one of the most important platforms for portrait painters, has a First Prize of £30,000, making it one of the largest for any global arts competition. The winner also receives, at the Gallery's discretion, a commission worth £5,000 (agreed between the National Portrait Gallery and the artist). The Second Prize winner receives £10,000 and a Third Prize of £8,000 is also awarded. The BP Young Artist Award, with a prize of £7,000, goes to one selected artist aged between eighteen and thirty.

All 2015 exhibitors will be eligible to submit a proposal for the BP Travel Award 2014. The aim of the award is to provide the opportunity for an artist to experience working in a different environment, in Britain or abroad, on a project related to portraits. The winner will receive £6,000.

The current BP Portrait Award 2014 exhibition will visit the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from 28 November 2014 - 12 April 2015. The first prize was awarded to German artist Thomas Ganter for his striking portrait of a homeless car-windscreen cleaner. The second prize was awarded to Richard Twose for his portrait of model and TV star Jean Woods, and third prize to David Jon Kassan for his portrait of his mother.

Recent National Portrait Gallery commissions by BP Portrait Award first-prize-winning artists include Julia Donaldson by Peter Monkman (BP Portrait Award 2009 winner); Dame Kelly Holmes by Craig Wylie (BP Portrait Award 2008 winner); novelist V S Naipaul by Paul Emsley (BP Portrait Award 2007 winner); Ken Livingstone by Andrew Tift (BP Portrait Award2006 winner); and Kids Company founder Dame Camila Batmanghelidjh by Dean Marsh (BP Portrait Award 2005 winner). Many artists who have had their work exhibited have gained commissions as a result of the considerable interest in the BP Portrait Award and the resulting exhibition.

For further information on the BP Portrait Award, please visit npg.org.uk/bp

Photo Credit: Thomas Ganter, First Prize Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2014 © Jorge Herrera