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Mathew Masinge Arts Correspondent
Talent search programme “ZimTalent Hunt” has encouraged Zimbabwean visual artists that do portaits in the country or in the diaspora to enter the prestigious BP Annual Portrait Competition run by the National Portrait Gallery of London, in the United Kingdom.

The BP Portrait Award 2016 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery from June 23 to September 18 and the closing date for entries is February 2.

ZimTalent Hunt director Shepherd Munyawiri said they have also taken it upon themselves to assist artists enter the competition.

“Interested artists are supposed to submit a digital image of their work on our website [email protected] because we will not conduct auditions.

We have set aside a selected panel of judges drawn from the visual arts fraternity that will choose the best portrait for submission to the BP Portrait Award competition,” he said.

He said the competition is open to any individual above the age of 18.

“The competition is open to everyone aged 18 and above. The selected candidate will be eligible for automatic consideration for both the BP Young Artist Award and the BP Portrait Award,” he said.

Munyawiri reiterated that his organisation is happy to fully exercise its primary objective.

“It is with great honour that as ZimTalent Hunt we are exercising our objective which is to unearth talent and expose it.

“We believe that participation by one of our artists in this competition will expose them to a lot of possibilities even if they do not win. If they win the prize money is good and the possibilities are even greater,” he said

The Portrait Award, now in its 37th year at the National Portrait Gallery and 27th year of sponsorship under BP, is the most prestigious portrait painting competition in the world.