Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Darling Portrait Prize

Call For Entries

Entries to the 2024 Darling Portrait Prize are now open.
Lucinda, Tram Driver (detail), 2021 Avraham Vofsi
Lucinda, Tram Driver (detail), 2021 Avraham Vofsi, Darling Portrait Prize 2022 Finalist

The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial prize for Australian portrait painting which honours the legacy of L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015), founding patron of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Judges will be seeking the most compelling recent Australian portrait painting, whether they honour or push the genre, offer unexpected insights into well-known faces, or centre everyday people to explore the breadth of Australian identity.

To be eligible, the work must meet the following criteria:

  • a painting
  • completed on or after 31 January 2022
  • depicts a person or persons having a strong association with Australia, or who has made a significant contribution to Australian life
  • is based on a live sitting or study from life (including online sittings).

To be eligible, the artist must meet the following criteria at the time the online entry is submitted:

  • an Australian citizen or a resident of Australia
  • 18 years or over.

It is free to enter the Prize.

The Gallery is committed to supporting artists involved in the Prize. Each selected finalist will receive:

  • an artist fee of $1,200
  • a copyright and image licensing fee of $1,000
  • domestic artwork freight allowance to and from the Gallery
  • domestic travel allowance and accommodation in Canberra for the exhibition launch.

In 2024, the winner will receive a prize of $75,000. All finalist artworks will be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery from 22 June to 13 October 2024.

Entries close on 31 January 2024.

Judges

This year the prize will be judged by Bree Pickering, Director, National Portrait Gallery; Erin Vink, Curator First Nations Art (local and global), Art Gallery of New South Wales and Tara Heffernan, Art Historian and Critic.

Bree Pickering, Erin Vink (Photo: Anna Kucera), Tara Heffernan
DPP call for entries
Manage your entry
Terms and conditions

If you have questions regarding your submission please contact:


P: (02) 6102 7095

Entries close at 11:55pm AEDT on Wednesday 31 January 2024

© National Portrait Gallery 2023
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency