Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2020 shortlist announced

Chosen out of more than 3,856 artworks entered by over 1,672 artists, the shortlist includes artists from South Korea, India, Netherlands, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Norway, Pakistan, Austria, USA, Japan, Italy and the UK working across a variety of mediums including sculpture, painting, photography and digital media.

The Prize continues to build its focus on supporting diversity in the visual arts. Prevalent themes in this year's 30 shortlisted artists are representative of the wider ideas entrants were exploring through their submissions and include climate change, gender politics, mental health, civil rights and cultural history.

The 30 shortlisted artworks (see below) were selected by a panel of renowned experts. This year V&A Museum curator Melanie Lenz joined the panel as a new media judge. Based in London and specialising in digital media, she previously worked at the Barbican Art Gallery and Tate Modern and has over 15 years of experience curating, commissioning and delivering creative projects.

Josh McNorton, cultural director for Wembley Park, returned to judge for the second year of the new media award, as did independent art adviser Averil Curci and creative director of Genesis Imaging Mark Foxwell who led the judging of the Photography Award. They joined returning judges Dr David Anfam, senior consulting curator at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver and author of the catalogue raisonné 'Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas'; Howard Lewis, director of the Schorr Collection; and Ashurst partner Anna Delgado. They were also joined by new guest judge Magnus Brooke, director of policy and regulatory affairs at ITV plc.

This year the overall winner and winners of the Sculpture and Choice Awards will receive £3,500, £2,000, and £1,750, respectively, along with solo exhibitions in the Ashurst Emerging Artist Gallery and Cass Art vouchers. For the fourth year the Prize partners with East London arts organisation Rich Mix on the New Media Award, which is open to artists who use digital techniques and technology within their practice. This comprises £1,500 and a solo exhibition at Rich Mix for the artist. The winner of the Photography Award, supported by Genesis Imaging, will receive £1,500 worth of production services and a professional mentorship with Genesis Imaging.

Ruth Harris, Ashurst's London office managing partner, commented:

"It has been wonderful to see the continued success of the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, both in terms of the quality of the work and in the number of entrants. This is an important initiative which continues to support some of the world's most exciting emerging artists in building their profiles and careers without dependency on representation by a gallery or agent. We congratulate all of the shortlisted artists and look forward to honouring the winners."

诺贝尔奖与三星继续补充es of professionally led talks providing practical guidance for artists, an extensive social media presence to promote all entrants, and the option for early entrants to request feedback from the art experts. This year the Prize also successfully launched new video channels on YouTube and Vimeo to share the talks, making them available to a growing international audience, and in a format that is accessible to disabled artists.

For further details of the Prize please visitwww.artprize.co.uk.