BP Portrait Award
The BP Portrait Prize is an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England.
British Petroleum took over sponsorship of the competition in 1989 from John Player & Sons, a tobacco company, and has sponsored it since.
The exhibition opens in June each year and runs until September. First prize is typically £25,000. In the early years of the century, the prize went up from £5,000, and its catchment area was gradually extended from residents of the UK and is now unrestricted. It is regarded as the best showcase of young figurative painting in Britain, and many winners have gone on to become highly collectible. In spite of its traditional and non-headline-grabbing qualities, it has been highly popular with the general public, though in recent years there has been some controversy over the choice of winners.
Past winners
- 2008 – Craig Wylie
- 2007 – Paul Emsley
- 2006 – Andrew Tift
- 2005 – Dean Marsh
- 2004 – Stephen Shankland
- 2003 – Charlotte Harris
- 2002 – Catherine Goodman
- 2001 – Stuart Pearson Wright
- 2000 – Victoria Russell
- 1999 – Clive Smith
- 1998 – Thomas Watson
- 1997 – James Lloyd
- 1996 – James Hague
- 1995 – Ishbel Myerscough
- 1994 – Peter Edwards
- 1993 – Philip Harris
- 1992 – Lucy Willis
- 1991 – Justin Mortimer
- 1990 – Annabel Cullen
- 1989 – Tai-Shan Schierenberg
- 1987 – Alison Watt