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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Sue Steward's rating
Reader rating
Runners-up: left, Girl on Kingsland Road by Ashley Gordon
First prize: Rosie Bancroft by Paul Floyd Blake
Annonymous: Girl by Mirjana Vrbaski
Playing the part: Polly Stenham by Michael Birt
It is hardly surprisingly that the overall winner of this year's £12,000 Photographic Portrait Prize is Paul Floyd Blake's image of Rosie Bancroft.
On first glance, this softly focused, quiet scene of a girl in a swimsuit in a changing room is quite ordinarily beautiful but elevated by her self-assured stare, carrying the optimism and hope of all Olympic contenders.
On second viewing, you take in her artificial foot and leg.
Rosie is a 13-year-old hopeful for the Paralympics in 2012 but this is not mentioned in the caption and does not in the least affect the quality or perfect composition.
Each year, poignancy sits beside glamour, apathy with wit, beauty with weirdness at this exhibition, where five prize-winners and 55 runners-up, selected from more than 6,000 submissions, offer a vision of trends in portrait photography.
Visitors gaze silently, forming their own narratives.
Annual themes recur - redheads, dogs, freckles (this year, chickenpoxed skin), babies, and, rarely, the classic, monochrome photo-documentary usually reserved for the World Press Awards.
Here, Carol Storey's intimate portrait of a Rwandan rape victim reflects her exceptional skill in documenting such agony.
In contrast, pain is implied in third prize winner Michal Chelbin's Stas: a child murderer, lying blankly on a bed in a prison dormitory.
The multi-award winning Vanessa Winship received second prize for Girl in a Golden Dress, Georgia, which follows her previous success with her Turkish Sisters project.
Again, she exposes a prepubescent girl to the camera in a classic, static posture but subtle changes transform the work: the girl is now positioned off-centre, against a textured, flat wall, the silky dress contrasting with previous harshness.
At the opposite end of glamour is Michael Birt's image of a lace-clad Polly Stenham, London's latest theatre darling.
The Elle magazine award went to Ali Lomas for her image of a distressed young woman in her underwear in a bathroom, sensitively handling a major issue, it possesses a serene beauty and a painterly quality.
This year also sees the first "landscape" images: distant, expansive scenes where the human presence doesn't dominate, surely a trend-setter in a very good year for portrait photography.
Until 14 February (020 7306 0055, www.npg.org.uk).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
