Portrait of Britain is an annual British portrait photography award run by the British Journal of Photography.[1][2] Its subject is the diversity of British people.[3] The 100 winning portraits are displayed on JCDecaux's digital screens across Britain throughout the month of January.[4] It launched in 2016.[4]
Since 2018, an eponymously titled book has been published with 200 of the shortlisted portraits from each year.
The competition's subject is the diversity of British people[3] "and the way their narratives reflect its widely unstable political and social landscape."[5] It was partly inspired by Brexit.[4][6]
It is open to anyone to enter but photographs must have been taken within the previous six years and "depict subjects living in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) at the time of the photograph."[7]
The 100 winning portraits are displayed on the outdoor advertising company JCDecaux's digital screens located in railway stations, shopping centres, bus stops and high streets.[4][3] Each image appears on each screen for five to ten seconds.[4]
The competition ran in September 2016,[8] September 2017[5][9][10] September 2018,[11][12][13][14] December 2021[15] and September 2022[16] with winners announced the following year.