Entry window goes live for portrait prize
Artists in Cork are invited to take part in the AIB Portrait Prize and AIB Young Portrait Prize 2026 for which entries are now officially open.
Run by the National Gallery of Ireland, both competitions will be open for entry until 10pm on 3 July.
The AIB Portrait Prize focuses on contemporary portraiture, welcoming entries from artists working in all media, both in Ireland and from Irish artists living abroad.
The AIB Young Portrait Prize invites submissions from young artists aged 18 and under, and aims to foster and support creativity, originality, and self-expression in children and young people.
The winning artist in the adults’ competition will be awarded a prize of €15,000 and a commission worth €5,000 to produce a new work for inclusion in the national portrait collection. Two additional prizes of €1,500 will be awarded to highly commended works. Judges for the AIB Portrait Prize 2026 are Brian Fay, artist and lecturer at TU Dublin; Christina Kennedy, Senior Curator, Head of Collections at the Irish Museum of Modern Art; and Joseph McBrinn, Art Historian and Lecturer at Belfast School of Art.
The Young Portrait Prize includes four age categories: aged 6 and under, 7–11, 12–15, and 16–18. Winners in each category, as well as an overall winner, are selected from a shortlist of works. Prizes include a bespoke art box and a cash prize for the winner. This year’s AIB Young Portrait Prize judges are Amanda Coogan, artist; Carl Hickey, artist; and Donna Rosewood, curator at the National Museum of Ireland.
Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said: “With the annual AIB Portrait Prize and AIB Young Portrait Prize, our aim is to showcase the work of Irish artists and encourage an interest in contemporary Irish portraiture. Each year, the shortlisted artists demonstrate the incredible diversity of Irish artistic talent.”
Exhibitions showcasing both competitions will run in the National Gallery of Ireland’s Portrait Gallery from 14 November 2026 to 14 March 2027. After this, the exhibitions will travel to Galway Arts Centre from 3 April to 27 June 2027, and to Limerick City Gallery of Art from 9 July to 15 August 2027.
The highly commended artists, category winners, and overall winners of the AIB Portrait Prize and AIB Young Portrait Prize will be announced at a prize-giving ceremony in December 2026.
Colin Hunt, CEO of AIB, said: “This is the third year that AIB has held the honour of supporting these competitions, which showcase the talent of contemporary Ireland in all its diversity today. We look forward each year to seeing the quality and creativity of submissions from artists across the country and from Irish artists living abroad, and we continue in that excitement for the 2026 prizes. We encourage all eligible artists to enter!”