Seven artists from South-east London have been shortlisted for this year’s Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize

The UK’s leading competition for British contemporary representational painting and drawing.

Peter Clossick from Lee has been nominated for his oil painting, Self, Jason Line from Lewisham for his oil on canvas Studio Interior, Eleni Odysseos from Peckham for her oil on canvas Avoid Looking in the Mirror, Caroline Thomson from Peckham Rye for her oil on wood Seekers, Kay Harwood from Forest Hill for her oil on canvas The Song of Philomela, Samantha Fellows from West Norwood for her oil on panel Sofabed Sleepover, Nuru and Rose and Tommy Ramsay from Brockley for his oil on canvas Diamond Highway.

In all, 83 artists have been shortlisted for the Prize out of 1,144 who entered this year’s competition – the highest level of entries in the prize’s 13-year history.

The eventual winners will be selected from these works and announced on March 5 at an evening event at the Mall Galleries in London.

Ian Rowley, chairman of the organising committee, said: “This year, we’ve been staggered by the quality of the entries. There’s a tremendous diversity to the works combined with some bold approaches.

“A record-breaking 2,194 works were submitted by over 1,000 artists, which shows that representational art in the UK is in better health than the art establishment might surmise. The judges have now completed the very difficult job of whittling those 1,000-plus artists down to just 83, whose works will be exhibited.”

The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize for representational art – art that seeks to capture the real world – offers total prize money of £30,000, comprising a first prize of £15,000 and a gold medal, second prize of £4,000 alongside the newly introduced People’s Prize worth £2,000. Young artists aged 25-or-under compete for the Young Artist Award of £4,000.

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

The competition is open to any artist, professional or amateur, resident in the UK and painting or drawing works of representational art and over 18-years-old.

The competition aims to promote and support fresh new talent.

For more details see www.lynnpainterstainersprize.org.uk