May I enter?
Entrants must be aged 18 years or over at the time of entry. All entrants must be Australian residents.
Employees of the National Portrait Gallery (‘the Gallery’) are not eligible for entry.
What must I submit?
The entry must be a portrait in a broad sense, being a recognisable image of an individual person or group. The photograph must be taken by the entrant from life (ie. a physical, living person or group of people). The subject of the portrait may be anyone. Group portraits and self-portraits will be accepted. The portrait must be created using either traditional photographic emulsion or digital process in two-dimensional format.
What are my responsibilities?
Entries must be created in the year 2014. Entries must be the original work of the photographer. Entries cannot have been exhibited or reproduced prior to submission, and up to and during the exhibition period at the NPG (21 March – 8 June 2015). Previous reproduction of your image on social media sites, or a personal website, is permitted.
The entrant warrants that they own the intellectual property rights in their entry and that any intellectual property rights and moral rights of a third party have not been infringed. The entrant must obtain the consent of persons featured in their submitted photographs for all marketing, educational and publicity uses of such photographs and ensure that no additional consents or licences are required in respect of names, trademarks, designs, works of art or any other intellectual property depicted in the work.
Copyright in all exhibited photographs will remain with the entrant. It is a condition of entry that the entrant grants to the Gallery the right to freely use, communicate, reproduce and publish all finalists’ work for publicity, promotional and educational purposes associated with the National Photographic Portrait Prize, including the tour, in both digital and print mediums.
How do I submit my entry?
Each entrant may submit up to six entries for selection for the Prize. No more than one entry from each entrant can be selected for exhibition.
Each entry must be accompanied by a fully completed entry form as part of online registration of entry.
Entrants must submit an artist statement of maximum 100 words as part of the entry form. The entrant must obtain the consent of persons featured in their submitted photographs for any comments about those persons included in the artist statement. It is preferred to include the full name of your subject. Published statements may be edited by the Gallery for consistency.
The fee for each entry is $25 including GST (non refundable). Once a log-in account has been created, the entrant may continue to change their entries by uploading a new image to replace an existing entry. However, entrants who do not successfully upload a new image by the time entries close will not be offered a refund. Payment must be made with a debit/credit card. Entrants whose payments cannot be processed will be considered ineligible.
Each entry must be submitted as a digital file saved as a jpeg. It is preferred that files are no larger than 12MB. No original prints should be submitted for the initial selection process. Digital files submitted for the selection process will not be returned to the entrant. The Gallery will accept submissions from 1 October until midnight (EST) on 10 November 2014.
How are the entries judged?
A panel of judges nominated by the Gallery will judge all digital entries on screen (hardcopy entries are not permitted). The judges will then select a group of portraits for exhibition, and select the winning portrait from the exhibition. The winning portrait will be announced at the exhibition launch.
At all stages, the decision of the judges is final and no discussion will be entered into.
The prize is $25,000 (GST inclusive). Payment of prize money is in accordance with Commonwealth Government protocols, including due processing time.
What if my entry is selected for exhibition?
Entrants will be notified by 21 November 2014 if their work has been selected for exhibition. Unsuccessful entrants will not be notified.
It is the responsibility of the finalist to organise and pay for the transport of their work to and from the Gallery prior to the exhibition and upon conclusion of the exhibition tour. Any damage or loss during transport of the finalist’s work to the Gallery, however caused, is the responsibility of the finalist. Finalists are therefore advised to arrange adequate insurance cover against such risks. The touring venues or the Gallery shall not be liable for any loss or damage, whether or not caused by their negligence.
All finalists are responsible for the matting and framing of their work (see below).
Finaliststs - format of portrait
If selected as a finalist, you must comply with the following rules when preparing your print for exhibition:
A. Portraits must be submitted to the Gallery as finished prints, framed and ready to hang with D-rings (7cm from top of frame). Unframed works will not be acceptable for the exhibition.
B. Framed portraits must use acrylic glazing or Perspex only, not glass.
C. Portraits must be less than 140cm in height x 140cm in width, including frame size.
D. Multi-panel works are regarded as one work and must comply with the dimensions above. Multi-panel works must include installation instructions.
E. Portraits must clearly bear the title of the work and name, address and telephone number of the entrant, on the reverse of the work.
F. It is strongly recommended that a white or neutral coloured mat board is used (white or off-white is preferred).
If the delivered work fails to conform to the above specifications, or if the photographic print differs substantially in appearance from the image submitted for judging, the work will be deemed ‘not suitable for display’.
The Gallery will ask the finalist to re-print, re-mat or re-frame work not suitable for display and to re-deliver the work at the finalist’s expense. If the finalist is unable to re-deliver the work, or if the re-delivered work is still not suitable for display, the Gallery reserves the right to exclude that finalist from the short-list.
Exhibition of portrait
Works selected for exhibition must be available for continuous display for the duration of the exhibition and the tour. However, due to space restrictions at different touring venues, the Gallery reserves the right to remove works from the exhibition tour at its discretion.
While on display at the Gallery and on tour, all works in the exhibition will be insured by the Gallery. The Gallery will be responsible for all transport costs incurred during the tour.
Frequently asked questions
What is the definition of ‘Australian resident’?
An ‘Australian resident’ is someone who holds a current permanent residency visa, or is an Australian citizen. Those who hold a student visa, temporary permanent residency visa, or any other visa that is not a permanent residency visa, are not eligible to enter.
Can I enter a photograph that was taken in 2013 or earlier?
No. Entries must be photographs taken in 2014 only.
What is meant by ‘entries cannot have been exhibited or reproduced prior to submission’?
The actual image that you submit must not have previously been physically displayed in an exhibition or reproduced in any commercial print publication (magazine, newspaper, catalogue etc). Online reproduction is permitted, with the exception of online reproduction for the purpose of financial gain.
How do I obtain consent from my subject?
By accepting the NPPP2015 Terms and Conditions, the Gallery assumes that you have obtained consent from your subject/s, through a verbal or written agreement, to demonstrate that they understand his or her rights regarding the photograph being taken. Submitting a copy of the subject’s consent, in addition to the online application, is not required.
The subject must be informed that their image may be displayed in the exhibition and its tour, as well as featured in accompanying promotional and advertising material in print and online format. Where information is disclosed about the subject in the artist statement, the photographer must also obtain permission as to whether the name and other personal information of the subject can be used in conjunction with the image.
Does my entry need to be a photograph taken in Australia?
No.
Do I have to pay the $25 fee once, or for every entry I submit?
You are required to pay $25 per entry you submit. You can submit up to six photographs.
What if I want to change one of my submitted photographs?
The online log-in system allows you to manage your entries by uploading a new image to replace an existing entry. However, the Gallery will not permit any refunds to entrants who decide they want to delete a paid entry that will not be replaced by another image.
Will my photograph be returned to me after the exhibition?
Your photograph will be available for you to collect from the National Portrait Gallery at the conclusion of the exhibition tour in mid-2016. While the Gallery will insure the works for the duration of the exhibition and tour, each finalist will be responsible for organising the freight and insurance of their works in transit to and from the National Portrait Gallery. Further instructions will be provided once the finalists are announced.
Can I use editing software, such as Photoshop, to alter my photograph?
Yes.
What is meant by the portrait must be taken ‘from life’.
The image must feature a physical living person or group or people.
Can I enter more than one photograph as part of a single entry?
Yes. You can feature multiple images as part of one entry, however, if selected as a finalist these images must be printed and framed as one work within the maximum frame requirements (no larger than 140 x 140cm). For example, this could be presented as a diptych, a triptych, or it could feature multiple small portraits framed as one work. If entering multiple images as one entry, please ensure your uploaded jpeg file reflects how the images will be framed (ie. please do not send through multiple images intended to be presented as one work).
