K by Craig Wylie, © Craig Wylie

35-year-old London artist Craig Wylie has won the BP Portrait Award 2008 for his epic study of his girlfriend Katherine Raw.

Wylie was announced as the winner by Ian Hislop at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) on Monday June 16 2008. He wins £25,000 together with a commission, at the National Portrait Gallery Trustees' discretion, worth £4,000.

In a record-breaking year for entries to the prize from non-UK artists, the British painter was chosen from 1,727 registered entries, 536 of (31% of the total) which came from outside the UK.

Wylie, who turns 35 today (17 June), was shortlisted for the first time this year, having been included in the BP Portrait Award exhibition for the past three years.

His winning portrait of his girlfriend, Katherine Raw, is based on sittings from his Hackney Wick studio in 2005. He made two previous attempts at the painting through 2006, starting the final version in 2007. "On one level the viewer's intrusion into the sitter's emotional state is tacitly accepted," said Wylie, "on another it is positively rebuffed."

Amanda Smith at Vincent Avenue by Simon Davis. © Simon Davis

A second prize of £8,000 went to Simon Davis for Portrait of Amanda Smith at Vincent Avenue and a third prize of £6,000 went to Robert O'Brien's portrait of his grandmother Hannah O'Brien, shortly before her death.

"These are superb portraits, each of the 2008 prize-winners being a different scale and style. Painted portraiture is flourishing," said one of the judges, the NPG's Director, Sandy Nairne.

In addition, the BP Travel Award 2008 winner was also announced last night. Emmanouil Bitsakis won for his proposal to travel to Northwest China, in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, focusing around the capital city of Urumqi.

He receives a bursary of £5,000 to travel and paint portraits for next year's BP Portrait Award exhibition of the "Faces of the Uigur through Song and Dance."

The Uigur, part of the extended family of Turkish peoples who inhabit most of central Asia, remain culturally distinct from the Han Chinese. Emmanouil Bitsakis said he "would like to record in portrait form the uniqueness of this minority culture to demonstrate a small part of the vastness of China."