Dunedin Art School 2010 graduate Jasmine Middlebrook (26) won the $3000 first prize for her oil painting The News Spread at an awards ceremony attended by more than 100 people in The Art Station.
The judge, Dunedin artist and art educator Marilynn Webb, said the winning work was ''the standout'' among the 158 entries.
''It really is excellent. It's a very loving portrait of a family, with the title suggesting a domestic incident and the work being painted by a skilled practitioner of fine art.
"It's an intricate view of family life, which you can return to many times and find new delights to look at,'' Dr Webb said
Results were: Jasmine Middlebrook, The News Spread (oil on canvas), 1; Brian Looker, A Change of Eulogy (oil), 2; Geoff Williams, Gasworks (graphite). Merit awards: Olav Nielsen, Past The Dark (mezzotint) and Brenda Nyhof, Creation Story (oil).
The winning work received $3000, with second receiving $2000 and third $1000. The merit prizes were $500 each.
The winner of the $500 Edinburgh Award was Grace Dykstra's Young Engineers Club.
A $500 people's choice award will be made by public vote during the exhibition, which is showing at The Art Station until September 1.
