BP Portrait Award reveals 2015 shortlist

Baku. 30 April. REPORT.AZ/ Three artists from the UK, Spain and Israel have been shortlisted for this year's BP Portrait Award at London's National Portrait Gallery, in a record-breaking year for entries.

Report informs citing BBC News, British artist and three time runner-up Michael Gaskell is listed for a photo-realist painting of his niece Eliza.

He is up against Spanish painter Borja Buces Renard's My Mother and My Brother on a Sunday Evening and Israeli artist Matan Ben-Cnaan's Annabelle and Guy.

The winner will be announced in June.

The works will then go on display at the National Portrait Gallery from 18 June to 20 September, along with 52 of the other entries.

On top of the £30,000 prize, the winner also receives a commission worth £5000 to paint a portrait for the National Portrait Gallery's permanent collection.

This year, artists were allowed to submit images of their portraits digitally for the first time.

Organisers said this accounts for the striking increase in entries - 2,748 portraits, up from 2,377 last year.

The judging panel this year includes historian Simon Schama, artist Peter Monkman, and the National Portrait Gallery's Acting Director, Pim Baxter, who said "it was good to see even more international artists entering".

He added: "My fellow judges and I were impressed by the different styles of portraiture, some quite new to the exhibition, and intrigued by the different 'stories' behind the portraits."

Now in its 36th year and sponsored by BP for 27 years, the competition received portraits from 92 different countries.