Artist Jonny Briggs has scooped this year's New Sensations Prize. The 26-year-old Royal College of Art graduate won the award - given out annually in Britain by the Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4 - for his work in photomontage and tapestry, exploring notions of childhood and self. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Glasgow School of Art graduate Gabriella Boyd was given a Special Commendation for her depictions of imagined interiors, inspired by surrealism.
See the Channel 4 'Random Acts' film on New Sensations winner Jonny Briggs
The New Sensations Prize - named after the seminal 1997 exhibition that cemented Saatchi and the YBAs' reputations - is open to all art students graduating from universities and colleges in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Although only five years old, it is already viewed as an important showcase for the art world's future luminarie.
Entrants submit their work online, and from these a long-list of 30 names is selected by the Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4. The judging panel - including Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers - then whittles down the list down to 20 names, before selecting four finalists - each of whom receives a bursary to make a new work, as well as having a short Channel 4 film made about them.
See the Channel 4 'Random Acts' film on New Sensations runner-up Gabriella Boyd
The two other finalists for 2011 were Ronin Cho and Krystina Naylor. Their work and that of the other 16 artists short-listed can be seen at the New Sensations exhibition, which runs until 17 October 2011.
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