National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025: A National Portrait Gallery Exhibition

Now in its 18th year, the National Photographic Portrait Prize supports and celebrates photographic portraiture in Australia. Each year the prize attracts thousands of entrants from emerging and established artistic talent across the country. In 2025, the judges – writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law, Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery Serena Bentley, and Leigh Robb, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia selected 48 finalists from a field of more than 1400 entries.

Featuring famous faces and everyday Australians, the prize celebrates the vitality and diversity of photographic portraiture in Australia and invites you into the intimate world of a subject/artist relationship and provides a powerful visual record of the year, reflecting a particular time in Australian culture, both socially and artistically.

Join the exhibition opening on Friday 16 October. Entry is free but bookings are essential. Visit the website to book.

This exhibition is supported by the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming to improve access to the national collections for all Australians.