Each year, the Photographic Portrait Prize is awarded to the photographer who made the best photographic portrait of the past year. The prize is awarded by Dutch National Portrait Gallery. After five successful years of sponsorpartnership by the Rabobank, we are now taking a different course and the prize will be awarded again in the spring of 2024.
The Dutch National Portrait Gallery award the two prizes to draw attention to the broad tradition of Dutch portraiture in photography. Winners will receive prize money (resp. 2,500 and 10,000 euro’s) and have a chance to be included and purchased by a number of major international art collections.
Previous winners are Koos Breukel, Stephan Vanfleteren, Gerard Wessel, Annaleen Louwes, Sander Troelstra, Jitske Schols, Sarah Mei Herman, Sanne Donders, Martijn van de Griendt and Robin de Puy, who won the prize twice.
TALENT
Between 2018 and 2022, there was also an award for portrait photography talent. This was won successively by Peggy Kuiper, Annabel van Royen, Colette Lukassen, Bram Engelaar and Laura Chen.
JURY
The jury is re-compiled every year and consists of noted professionals from the cultural field, such as an image editor, art director, curator, portrait photographer, gallery owner and museum director. The winning photographer of the previous year is also part of the jury.
ACCESSIBILITY
There are no fees for entering the competition. Participation takes place by being nominated by image editors, curators, critics and professionals in photography, who are asked by Dutch National Portrait Gallery to nominate photographers for the Photographic Portrait Prize. These photographers will subsequently be asked to submit a maximum of three portraits.
Professional photographers who have not been nominated can also submit their portraits themselves – again with a maximum of three. The jury does not know who has been nominated and who has entered without a nomination. Thus, every photographer has the same chance of winning.
Students and professionals who have been working as photographers for less than five years can submit a series with a minimum of three up to five portraits for the Rabo Photographic Portrait Talent prize.
SUBMISSION
The submission period will be announced by the end of 2023. Please check our website and socials for updates.
