Call for Entries: 2010 Davy Portrait Awards

Davy, Ireland's leading provider of stockbroking, wealth management and financial advisory services, today announced the call for entries for the 2010 Davy Portrait Awards following the huge success of the inaugural
awards last year. In association with Arts & Business, the company continues to champion innovation and excellence in contemporary portrait painting in Ireland. The deadline for submissions is 30th October 2009.

The work will be selected anonymously from an open submission by a judging panel comprising of Rosie Broadley, Associate Curator of Contemporary Collections at the National Portrait Gallery in London and Brenda McParland, a renowned International Curator and Arts Management Professional in Contemporary Visual Arts.
The Awards are open to artists based in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland working in traditional and non-digital media. Irish artists based outside Ireland are also eligible to apply. The Davy Portrait Award is worth
£10,000/€11,750 and will be awarded by the judges at a
prize-giving ceremony in Belfast in February 2010.

The Davy Portrait Awards will also showcase the finest entries in an exhibition at the Naughton Gallery, Belfast in February 2010, and at Farmleigh House, Dublin in May 2010. Last year’s inaugural Davy Portrait Awards attracted over 330 entries with the main prize awarded to artist Joe Dunne for ‘Portrait of Cara’ of his teenage daughter.

Tony Garry, Chief Executive of Davy commented: “We were delighted with the response to the inaugural Davy Portrait Awards which resulted in a stunning and
critically acclaimed exhibition that clearly demonstrated the wealth of contemporary artistic talent we have in Ireland today. The reaction greatly exceeded our expectations and we look forward to uncovering new work that continues to demonstrate what a dynamic and vital art form portraiture is.” Judge Rosie Broadley of the National Portrait Gallery commented: “I’m delighted to be asked to be a judge for this year’s Davy Portrait Awards, and am really looking forward to seeing new portraits by Irish artists.”

The Davy Portrait Awards has a two-stage entry procedure. The first stage is a submission of images of artwork required by deadline 30 October 2009. The
second is a submission of shortlisted artwork in November 2009. Additional information and entry forms are available on the Davy Portrait Awards
website: www.davyportraitawards.com