The BP Portrait Award, now in its nineteenth year, is a popular fixture on the summer calendar, and is the leading showcase for artists specializing in portraiture. The competition is open to all artists aged eighteen and over from around the world. The 2008 award received 1,600 entrants, all competing for the main prize of GBP25,000 and a possible commission.

Table of Contents

Director's Foreword Sponsor's Foreword Author's Essay BP Portrait Award 2009 Prize-Winning Portraits Selected Portraits BP Travel Award Picture Credits Acknowledgements Index

Author Biography

Sarah Dunant is a writer, broadcaster and critic. She was born in London and studied history at Cambridge university. After a brief spell working for the BBC she spent much of her twenties travelling before starting to write. Since then she has written eight novels, two screenplays and edited two books of essays. She has worked in television and radio as a presenter and a producer, is a patron of the ORANGE PRIZE for women's fiction, sits on the editorial board of the Royal Academy magazine and reviews for The Times, The Independent on Sunday and The Guardian.