Old Rossallian (W 1989-1994) Ros Koch has been selected for the 2026 Portrait Award (sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer) at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London, UK. 

About the Award 

This Portrait Award recognises emerging and established artists from around the world, celebrating the very best in contemporary portraiture and is one of the most important platforms for portrait painters today. Since its inception, the long-standing competition has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries and has been seen by over 6 million people. This year's 51 exhibited works were selected from over 1,474 entries from artists across 63 countries. The exhibition at the NPG will hang from 25 June – 7 October 2026 before going on tour throughout the UK. 

About the Artist & the Artwork 

Ros Koch is a Stellenbosch-based artist who, after studying law at Oxford, emigrated to South Africa. There, she continued to develop her legal knowledge through a Masters in Human Rights at the University of Cape Town. Since graduating, she has embraced South Africa as her own, grown deep roots in her local community, raised a family and learned ways to bring her passions to the people around her. Having adapted her life in new surroundings (including a chapter running her own wine farm in the Winelands!), she developed her artistic skills in parallel. All whilst juggling a young family, freelancing as a legal researcher, and caring for a few thousands vines. Proof that life is very rarely linear. 

Her artistic practice is deeply intertwined with her social advocacy work around adolescent health and wellbeing, the same themes at the heart of her selected artwork, “The Age of Adolescence” . 

Through working gently and patiently in layers, the painting process behind this portrait of her middle child, mimicked her parenting journey, and became both homage and personal testament - to honour the legacy of past masters while capturing a young life poised between who she has been and who she is becoming. 

“The fact that THIS painting - my first ever submission to the Portrait Award - has been accepted to hang in the NPG is a beautiful full circle moment for me, ” says Koch. “It’s a coming of age (both in its title and artistic affirmation) and homecoming of sorts. Like many other artists, I used to go to the NPG as a child, always drawn to the people and their lives. And it is truly serendipitous that this one has been selected as its subject matter is so immensely meaningful and deeply personal to me, representing the intersection of things things I feel most passionate about. ” “To have this work, which is rooted in my lived experience as both a parent and an advocate for young people, resonate within an international context is deeply meaningful, ” says Koch. 

Koch’s portrait “The Age of Adolescence” is currently part of the HSFK Portrait Award exhibition which runs from June 25 to October 7, 2026, at the National Portrait Gallery in London, with free public admission, before touring the UK.