The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019 received over 3,000 entries, presenting the judging panel – National Portrait Gallery Senior Curator Dr Christopher Chapman, artist and esteemed photographer Hoda Afshar and Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Australia Anne O’Hehir – the challenge of selecting the exhibition finalists.
‘The first stage of the judging process resulted in a long list of several hundred possibilities,’ Chapman said. ‘Then the judges spent two days of intensive looking to arrive at the final group of 40 finalist photographs for the exhibition.
‘Entries were received from across Australia and we were impressed with how the strongest photographs show just how unique everyone’s life experience can be.
‘After a lot of discussion, we agreed wholeheartedly on the outstanding quality of the 40 photographic portraits created by the exhibition finalists. These portraits are characterised by an overall sense of assuredness and calm.’
National Photography Portrait Prize 2018 Finalist – Bill Gekas, Amanda
The 40 finalists for the National Photography Portrait Prize 2019 are:
Adam Ferguson, Alan Weedon, Alana Holmberg, Aletheia Casey, Alex Vaughan, Daniel Boetker-Smith, Dave Laslett, Elizabeth Looker, Ingvar Kenne, Isabella Capezio, James Brickwood, Jamila Toderas, Jay Hynes, Jodi McConaghy, Joel Pratley, Jordan Madge, Julian Kingma, Kate Atkinson, Katrin Koenning, Kellie Leczinska, Lee Grant, Lilli Waters, Madeline Bishop, Max Mason-Hubers, Mia McDonald, Michael Murchie, Natalie Nowotarski, Nicholas Garcia, Rachel Peachey, Raphaela Rosella, Rod McNicol, Rosa Spring Voss, Sarah Rhodes, Shea Kirk, Simon Harsent, Stefanie King, Stephen Baccon, Tristan Still, Wouter Van de Voorde, and Yask Desai.
The exhibition of the 40 finalist portraits will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra from 23 February to 7 April 2019 followed by an exhibition tour.
Winners will be announced at the launch of the exhibition with the overall Winner receiving $30,000 in cash and $22,148 in photographic equipment, including a Mark II DSLR camera courtesy of our imaging partner, Canon. The Highly Commended photographer will receive an EIZO ColorEdge CG2730 27″ monitor valued at $3,245 courtesy of EIZO, while the Art Handlers’ Award recipient will receive $2,000 cash.
Stay tuned for images of the finalists’ works.
