Humber Portrait Prize 2026

The Humber Portrait Prize is the portrait photography competition of Humberlands, the photo festival based in Grimsby and the wider North East Lincolnshire coast. The 2026 edition runs as part of Humberlands 26, whose curatorial framework for the year is River — a frame the festival applies across its programme rather than a strict thematic requirement for prize submissions.

The brief itself is broad: contemporary portrait photography in its widest sense, from formal commissioned portraits through to spontaneous, personal images of friends and family. The prize is built around two parallel entry categories, an open category and a young person category, with selected work shown together as a single exhibition.

Selected photographs are exhibited at Grimbarians Studios, 87 Wharncliffe Road, in Grimsby Docks, during the festival period in late June 2026. The prize is presented as a curated selection rather than a single winner-take-all award, foregrounding the range of approaches photographers at different stages of their practice bring to portraiture.

Entry is free. Submission is made via a Google Form linked from humberlands.co.uk. Questions go to submissions@humberlands.co.uk. The deadline is June 5, 2026.