Artist Nick Stathopoulos’ portrait of Sudanese-born lawyer Deng Adut is this year’s audience favourite.

Sydney-based artist Nick Stathopoulos has been named as the winner of the 2016 Archibald Prize People’s Choice for what has been described as his “hyper-real” portrait of Sudanese refugee and lawyer, Deng Adut. Something of an Archibald veteran, this is the fifth time that Stathopoulos has been featured in the nation’s most popular prize for portraiture. However, this is the first time that he has won the People’s Choice Award.

“I’m actually a very traditional practitioner by choice,” said Stathopoulos reflecting on the painting, which took him over four months to complete. “I’ve spent my entire life developing my style and process. What I do is time-consuming, laborious and painstaking.”

The artist first heard of Adut after he watched a video promotion for Western Sydney University, which described Deng’s upbringing and his harrowing experiences as a child soldier in Sudan. Now a noted refugee advocate and community leader, Adut fled his country in 1998 and came to Sydney where he put himself through law school.

The People’s Choice – voted on by visitors to the exhibition since...