Stockport locals shine in Portrait of Britain Award 2023

Local Stockport photographer Gwen Riley Jones has been shortlisted in the Portrait of Britain Award 2023 for her photograph of another Stockport local, Kaidon. The photograph, taken at Heaton Norris Community Centre, shows Kaidon looking thoughtful at the breakfast table on a school strike day.  

Gwen met Kaidon and his family when she was delivering photography workshops at the community centre. He’d shown a keen interest, practicing taking photos of his brother, and was only too willing to be the subject of this portrait by Gwen.  

Published by the same agency responsible for the world’s oldest and most influential photography title – British Journal of Photography – the Portrait of Britain Award is the UK’s biggest annual photography exhibition, and a prestigious award for emerging and established photographers. The award describes itself as ‘a celebration of identity; an opportunity to rejoice in the diversity of a changing nation.’ 

Launched in 2016, shortlisted portraits for the award have been published in a book since 2018, with this year’s volume six featuring 200 photographs. The book is printed by Bluecoat Press and sponsored by JCDecaux. Of those 200 shortlisted photographs, 100 will be chosen as winners and will be exhibited across the UK in a month-long digital screen display in partnership with JCDecaux. 

More information about the award, book and exhibition is available on the British Journal of Photography website.