LONDON.- Joshua Raz has won the 2016 HIX Award. The HIX Award was set up in 2013 by restauranteur Mark Hix and Rebecca Lidert, the director of CNB Gallery, and is designed to give aspiring artists a platform to showcase their work in their first step toward life beyond university.

This year, the Award received a record number of entries of the highest calibre yet, which were then whittled down to just 21 finalists. Raz, 22, who graduated from Newcastle University this year, won a £1,000 cash prize, which will be used to finance a studio. The award, which was presented to Raz by Mark Hix at a special event at the Unit London Gallery on Monday night, also includes a £1,000 voucher for art materials from CASS Art Supplies; £1,000 HIX dining vouchers; a trip to HIX Townhouse in Lyme Regis and a feature in the autumn issue of HIX magazine. The Runner Up prize went to Hun Kyu Kim (aka Jake the Dog), and the People's Choice winner is Karen Doyle.

The 30-strong judging panel was chaired this year by the acclaimed British artist Gavin Turk, who says: ‘The winner by a whisker from very strong competition is a large ambitious work that simultaneously blends various painting styles and in a collage-like way mixes historic quotes and modern domestic representation. Congratulations and best of luck to all the young artists in the show.’

The exhibition of shortlisted artists will run at Unit London gallery, 147 Wardour Street, London W1F 8WD until 9th September.

Joshua Raz (b. 1993) is a British artist, currently based in Newcastle. He obtained his BFA from Newcastle University in 2016. Previous exhibitions include Far Nearer, Holy Biscuit Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne (2015); Letter of Intent, Kurant Gallery, Tromsø, Norway (2015); Yours, Comes Comitis, Firstsite Gallery, Colchester (2015); Hollow Horse, XL Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne (2016). His 2016 Degree Show was exhibited in Newcastle, and at both the Copeland Gallery, Peckham, and the Northern Graduates ’16 show at Curwen Gallery, in London.