LONDON.- Each year, the Royal College of Art asks professional artists and designers, plus up-and-coming art students and graduates to make and donate a postcard-sized piece of work, signed on the back to help fundraise for the RCA Fine Art Student Award Fund. Artists can paint, draw, sketch or even produce a 3-d sculpture as long as it’s postcard-sized.

This year's event features original works by renowned artists such as Paula Rego, Julian Opie, David Bailey, Christo and John Baldessari, Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, film director Mike Leigh and from the world of fashion, Sir Paul Smith, Orla Kiely and Manolo Blahnik.

All postcards are displayed anonymously for a week as part of the RCA Secret exhibition at the College’s new Dyson building in Battersea before going on sale for one day only to the public.

Each piece is priced £45, regardless of whether it’s been made by a famous name or a young art student. Although it can help to know the different styles of the artists, it can be pure luck. Many collectors don’t realise whose work they have chosen until the sale day.

Wilhelmina Bunn, RCA Secret curator said, 'We’re thrilled with the number and quality of postcards that have been sent to us this year. The breadth of artistic styles make for a really stunning exhibition, with contributions by artists and designers from all walks of life displayed next to each other. At a time when arts education funding is being cut we’re even more grateful for this support, with donations helping the next generation of artists coming through the College.'

Potential collectors are able to view all the postcards in person at the RCA in Battersea or on-line at www.rca.ac.uk/secret from 14 March. All postcards go on sale on Saturday 23 March on a first come, first served basis, with a maximum of four cards per person. There will also be a raffle for collectors to win a position in the first 50 places in the queue.

Over the last 19 years the event has raised more than £1 million for the RCA Fine Art Student Award Fund, helping hundreds of emerging artists at a formative stage in their careers.

RCA Secret 2013 is being exhibited for the first time in the College’s new Dyson building in Battersea which houses the studios and facilities of the School of Fine Art.