Award 2019 artists: Hannah Tounsend, Barry Anthony Finan, Vicky Lindo & William Brookes, John Rainey, Irina Razumovskaya, Elliot Denny, Zoe Preece, Adam Buick, Sam Lucas & Jessica Harrison.

AWARD is the British Ceramics Biennial headline exhibition, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary in 2019. Set in the magnificent expanse of the China Hall on the former Spode Factory site, the show foregrounds the work of the ten artists chosen for this year’s exhibition.

Through an open call, over 150 artists submitted proposals for inclusion in the exhibition. The selection panel chose ten artists for representation in the exhibition, and from these one will be chosen as the winner of AWARD, a prize of £10,000, for excellence, innovation and creative ambition.

The artists selected for this our sixth AWARD exhibition demonstrate a breadth (and depth) of exploration and expression of ideas through the medium of clay and ceramic processes.

There are deeply personal stories and insights publicly shared; serene functional objects counter-balance unsettling hinted at forms and activity. Flamboyance and apparent casual approaches to materials and construction sit in contrast to painstaking research and detailed recording of the transformation of clay through the act of firing.

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We are delighted to announce that the winner of AWARD 2019 is Vicky Lindo and William Brookes.

Vicky Lindo and William Brookes were selected from a shortlist of ten artists by a judging panel chaired by Alun Graves, Senior Curator in the Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass Department at the V&A. He comments:

“Vicky Lindo and William Brookes have created a truly remarkable and compelling new body of work… they have together created a powerful cycle of objects that explore the tragic story of the life and death of Vicky’s absent father… The use of ceramics as a vehicle for narrative and commemoration is rooted in tradition, but Vicky and William have repurposed the medium to tell a story that is absolutely contemporary and which, while personal, will be widely relatable. Dead Dad Book is a poetic, poignant and exquisitely beautiful series of works that demonstrate the potency of ceramics as a vehicle for the re-telling of our shared histories, including those less often heard.”