A former Otago Polytechnic arts student based in the United Kingdom has won more than $10,000 and been named best young artist by a national body.
Her painting, Emergence, was chosen out of almost 4000 entries submitted to the competition, and she was one of 35 artists who won in the National Open Art Awards (Noa).
Holly Zanderbergen, who graduated from the polytech's art school in 2013, said she thinks of her painting ''as a personal investigation of myself''.
Lecturer Clive Humphreys said she was ''very sponge-like about new information [and] new knowledge'' as a student.
''[Ms Zanderbergen] winning this award hasn't come as a surprise to us,'' he said.
Ms Zanderbergen said she hoped winning the Noa award would help her get representation by a London art gallery.
