Final call-out to artists to enter national art competition

The National Gallery of Ireland is issuing a final call-out to artists of all ages to enter the Zurich Portrait Prize and Zurich Young Portrait Prize 2023. The closing date for entries is 21 June 2023 at 10.00pm.

The Zurich Portrait Prize aims to encourage interest in contemporary portraiture and showcase the National Portrait Collection at the National Gallery of Ireland. The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of €15,000 and will be commissioned to create a work for the National Portrait Collection, for which they will be awarded a further €5,000. Two additional awards of €1,500 will be given to highly commended works. The judges of the competition are: Dorothy Cross RHA, artist, Dr Nick Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, and Anne Stewart, Senior Curator of Art, National Museums Northern Ireland. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Zurich Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland.

The Zurich Young Portrait Prize, which aims to foster and support creativity, originality and self-expression in children and young people returns for its fifth year in 2023. The competition has four age categories and is open to young people of all abilities aged, up to the age of 18, from across the island of Ireland. Winners in each age category and an overall winner will be chosen from a shortlist of 20 works. Winners will receive a bespoke art box and a cash prize. The judges are: Jessica O’Donnell, Head of Education and Community Outreach, Hugh Lane Gallery, Ola Majekodunmi, writer, broadcaster and producer, and Tom McLean, visual artist and curator. 

Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said, “With the annual Zurich Portrait Prize and Zurich Young Portrait Prize, our aim is to showcase the work of Irish portrait artists and encourage an interest in contemporary Irish portraiture. Each year, the artists shortlisted demonstrate an incredible breadth of Irish artistic talent. We're proud to partner with Zurich Insurance plc once again this year and we look forward to seeing who and what has inspired artists of all ages to create portraits in recent times.”

Neil Freshwater, CEO of Zurich, said, “Since 2018 Zurich has been proud to support the Zurich Portrait Prize and Zurich Young Portrait Prize competitions. Over that time, the Prizes have showcased hundreds of talented Irish portrait artists who are based on the island of Ireland and abroad. We can’t wait to see the creativity, energy and diversity presented in the shortlist for the 2023 Prize exhibition later this year at the National Gallery of Ireland. We encourage all eligible artists to enter!”

An exhibition featuring the shortlisted works for both the Zurich Portrait Prize and the Zurich Young Portrait Prize will run at the National Gallery of Ireland between 2 December 2023 and 10 March 2024. 

The highly commended artists, category winners and overall winners of the Zurich Portrait Prize and the Zurich Young Portrait Prize, will be announced in December 2023, after the exhibition , showcasing the shortlisted artworks from both Prizes, has opened to the public at the Gallery.

Find out more at www.nationalgallery.ie.