Artists in Devon and Cornwall are being challenged to show their artistic skills with the chance to win up to £15,000 and a gold medal in the 2018 national Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize.

They could also see their paintings hung in London’s world-famous Mall Galleries.

 Unlike many other contemporary art competitions, the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize is for representational art – art that seeks to capture the real world.

 Now in its 13th year, the Lynn Painter-Stainers competition is one of the most prestigious awards for artists in the UK, offering total prize money of £30,000, including a first prize of £15,000, second prize of £4,000 alongside the newly introduced people’s prize worth £2,000.

 Young artists aged 25 or under can compete for the young artist award of £4,000. This is a coveted prize that aims to promote and support fresh new talent.

For the fourth year running, the competition is also offering the Brian Botting prize of £5,000 which will be awarded to an artist aged 30 or under for an outstanding representation of the human figure.

 Christopher Green, winner of the 2017 Lynn Painter-Stainers prize, urged artists to take up the challenge. He said: ‘Winning the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize has been the high point of my work so far. I’ve been very busy since the announcement.’

This year’s people’s prize winner, 22-year-old Kieran Nash, said: ‘After winning the prize, my painting View from Tate Modern was accepted for the Bath Society of Artists annual exhibition and was featured in the media. I also gained many more connections in the art world’

 The competition is open to any artist resident in the UK painting or drawing works of representational or figurative art and over 18-years-old. Both amateur artists and professionals can submit up to four pieces of work.

 Prize judge Daphne Todd, leading artist and judge on BBC1’s The Big Painting Challenge, said: ‘The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize celebrates the very best of British representational art and acts as a show case to the rest of the world. It’s all about the way in which our artists see the real world and capture it.’

For more information go to www.lynnpainter stainersprize.org.uk