LONDON, ENGLAND.- The winner of the £15,000 National Portrait Gallery’s Schweppes portrait award is Roben Antoniewicz for the picture of his granddaughter’s second birthday. Antoniewicz  stated, “In some ways this is an idealised vision of Mairead. She’s wearing a Victorian-style party dress and she resembles a porcelain doll. At the same time there is a tension in the photograph. The following day she was leaving Scotland with her parents to live in Manchester. I don’t know whether Mairead sensed the family’s trepidation at this, but she seems  apprehensive and hesitant ." 

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery said, “The Schweppes Prize had an outstanding entry for its first year and now the public have the chance to come and see some great winning photographs. Roben Antoniewicz’s 2nd Birthday stood out as an remarkable image of innocence."  

The £5,000 Deloitte Award for the best photograph taken by a photographer under 25 was given to David Yeo, 19, for his group portrait Brothers and Sisters.  

This new annual international photographic portrait competition continues the tradition of the popular and prestigious John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, which came to an end last year. The Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize sees a larger prize fund than before, but the focus remains the same - to celebrate and promote the very best in contemporary portrait photography through a competition that is open to all.