Must have been 18 years of age or over on 1 January 2015.

Can submit up to six photographs.

Photographers selected for the exhibition will need to provide the Gallery with a Tiff file of their photograph for use in the catalogue and exhibition marketing campaign. This file would need to be a minimum of 350dpi, 4800 pixels on the shortest side.

Photographs

Must be the photographer’s own work

Must be portraits. ‘Portrait’ may be interpreted in its widest sense, of ‘photography concerned with portraying people with an emphasis on their identity as individuals’.

Must have been taken by the entrant from life and with a living sitter after 1 January 2015. 

Photographers must, if required, show proof of the date on which the photograph was taken.

Can be black and white or colour.

Must be unmounted and on paper, or other suitable surface, no larger than 1015 x 760mm and 20 kilos in weight (there are no limitations on how small a work can be). The image may be smaller than the paper size

All works must be submitted in either transparent protective sleeves (preferred) or similar transparent cover in order to protect during judging.

Photographers may submit individual portraits or portraits in series. A ‘series’ may mean either a group of separate portraits around a particular theme, or a number of pictures that when shown together combine to make up a single portrait work. The judges may choose to display a series in its entirety within the exhibition.

The winner of the competition will receive £15,000. In addition the judges, at their discretion, will award cash prizes to one or more shortlisted photographers.

The prize winners and exhibition selection is judged, on an equal and anonymous basis, from original prints. Judges are provided with procedures relating to the process, the judging and conflicts of interest.

All selected photographers under the age of 35 will also be eligible for the John Kobal New Work Award. The winning photographer will receive £4,000 and a commission from the Gallery to photograph a sitter connected with the UK film industry.