The Director's Essay Prize

The nomination process is now closed 
Founded in 2019, the Director’s Essay Prize celebrates leading research in the field of United States portraiture and visual biography. The award includes a cash prize of $3,000 for the author of a published essay that explores and enriches the interdisciplinary nature of American art, biography, history, and cultural identity. The recipient will present on their essay topic at the National Portrait Gallery during an award ceremony in fall 2024. 

The Director’s Essay Prize complements the Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, a triennial juried contemporary art exhibition established in 2006, and is specifically dedicated to supporting the next wave of written scholarship on portraiture. 

To qualify, scholarly essays of minimum 4,000 words must have been published in print or online within the past three years (details below). Scholars may self-nominate or nominate the work of their peers.  

Through its competitive nomination and selection process, the Director’s Essay Prize recognizes outstanding scholars whose work explores the interdisciplinary nature of American portraiture.  

Eligibility  

  • Jurors will consider single-author scholarly essays that have either appeared in an academic journal or in a university press and/or museum publication between January 2022 and March 2024. 
  • The author must hold a Ph.D. or other terminal degree (such as an MFA) or be enrolled in such a program at the time of submission. 
  • The essay must explore U.S. portraiture through an interdisciplinary lens. 
  • The author must be available to present a 35-minute lecture on their essay topic at the National Portrait Gallery’s award ceremony, which will take place in the fall of 2024. 
  • The essay must be in written in English or translated to English before submission for review. 
  • Nominations must have been received by May 24, 2024, at 5 p.m. ET. 

 

Please note that no work written by an employee of the Smithsonian Institution or produced by a Smithsonian museum’s publications office is eligible. 

To Nominate an Essay  

Please send a brief letter that explains the work’s significance to the field of portraiture and a copy of the nominated essay. More than one person may nominate the same essay.  

Send letters of nomination and a copy of the essay to NPGPortal@si.edu with the subject line “Director’s Essay Prize Nomination.” Please send your nomination in PDF format.   

Contact 

Please reach out to depabloc@si.edu with questions.  

Director's Essay Prize winner, 2022: Tiffany E. Barber

Tiffany E. Barber, Assistant Professor of African American Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles, was the winner of the 2022 Director’s Essay Prize. Her essay “Narcissister, a Truly Kinky Artist,” published in the spring 2020 issue of Art Journal, was chosen for its interdisciplinary contributions to the fields of American art, biography, history, and cultural identity. At the event, Professor Barber presented the related paper "Black Women’s Visual Alterity."