Olivia Laing joins judging panel for our £10k Evening Standard Art Prize

Author Olivia Laing is the first star judge to join the critics panel for the Evening Standard Art Prize.

The writer, 41, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2011 with her debut work, To The River. Her first novel Crudo​ became a bestseller when it was published last month.

Now in its second year, the £10,000 ES Art Prize, run in association with Hiscox, aims to inspire artists across the UK to create original works. This year’s theme is “progress”.

“I’m very excited to be judging the ES Art Prize and to see the variety of work inspired by the brilliant theme,” Laing said. “In a tricky climate for emerging artists, prizes like this make the art of the future possible.”

Evening Standard Arts Editor William Moore will chair the panel, and the winner will be announced at an event at the National Gallery on November 1.

Last year’s inaugural prize, which had a theme of London, was won by HelenA Pritchard , 42, who lives in Brixton. She said her mixed-media painting, To Make a Sculpture, explored the “exciting city full of opportunity” that she has called home since moving to the UK from South Africa to 20 years ago.

“This painting represents a turning point from the traditional way of painting I had observed growing up in South Africa,” she said at the time. “I was free to explore and experiment with new ideas, using material I found on the streets, chosen because of form, texture and colour, elements of abstraction now used in my paintings.”

This year submissions may not exceed 841 x 1,189mm (33.1 x 46.8 inches) and must be able to be displayed on a wall or on an easel. The winner will also be given a year’s Hiscox fine art insurance and a lifetime National Art Pass.

To enter, artists must send their full name, contact number, postcode, the title of the artwork, its dimensions and three images of the work from different angles (not to exceed 14MB) via email to artprize@standard.co.uk by September 30. Only one piece per person may be submitted. Full terms and conditions can be found at standard.co.uk/artprize #ESArtPrize