Lane Hagood wins 2010 Hunting Prize

Lane Hagood's work was selected from 134 final juried participants in the competition, which is sponsored by the global oil services company and whose $50,000 award is historically the most generous annual award in North America for painting and drawing.

The announcement of the 2010 winner came during an evening awards gala at the Friedkin Corporate Campus, Gulf States Toyota, in Houston.

Mr Hagood is among the youngest artists to earn the prize. A 2008 graduate of the University of Houston, his works have been exhibited at Birdhouse Gallery, which supports eclectic and emerging artists; the Joanna in Houston; and Domy Books in Houston and Austin. He was also featured in Pen To Paper, a book published in Berlin, Germany, by Pictoplasma, and in March was part of an exhibition at San Antonio's LoneStar Studios that showcased the Houston art scene.

"I'm really thankful to Hunting and to the jury, and really surprised," said Mr Hagood. "There are a lot of artists who have more experience or a longer track record. But that's one of the great things about this competition: The jury looks at your work, not your resume, so everybody's on equal footing. That gives unknown or lesser-known artists the kind of chance they might not otherwise get."

The Hunting Art Prize is open to amateur, up-and-coming, and established artists in Texas who are 18 years of age or older. This year's competition saw over 1,400 entries from more than 200 cities and towns throughout the state. Submissions underwent a two-tiered jury process, after which nationally respected judges from prestigious galleries in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, selected Mr Hagood's work as the 2010 winner.

In 2006 the competition moved to Houston, where Hunting's North American headquarters are located, after a quarter-century in the United Kingdom.

Hunting is an international oil services company providing solutions to the world's largest oil and gas concerns.