LONDON, 8 December 2003 - The Turner Prize 2003 has been awarded to Grayson Perry, it was announced at Tate Britain last evening. The £20,000 prize, sponsored by Channel 4 since 1991, was presented by artist Sir Peter Blake.

Grayson Perry was shortlisted for his exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the Barbican Art Gallery, London.

In awarding Perry the Turner Prize the jury admired his use of the traditions of ceramics and drawing in his uncompromising engagement with personal and social concerns. Reminiscent of Etruscan ceramic vases, they depict painted scenes of domestic violence. Perry, 43 and married, appeared at the prize ceremony in a lilac dress and remarked to the audience, "It's about time a transvestite potter won the Turner Prize,".

Grayson Perry Golden Ghosts 2001.
Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, London
Photo courtesy of Tate Britain

Tate also announced that Anish Kapoor was the artist who received the most votes in the Turner Prize People’s Poll, an initiative created in partnership with Channel 4 and the Guardian to celebrate twenty years of the Turner Prize, in which the public could vote for their favourite artist of all those shortlisted between 1984 and 2003.

The Turner Prize 2003 is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of his or her work in the twelve months preceding 10 May 2003. (The term British applies to all artists working in the United Kingdom and to British-born artists who may be working abroad.) The Prize was established in 1984 by the Patrons of New Art and is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art. The shortlisted artists for 2002 were: Jake and Dinos Chapman, Willie Doherty, Anya Gallaccio and Grayson Perry.

The 2003 Turner Prize jury consisted of Richard Calvocoressi, Director, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Frank Cohen, representative of the Patrons of New Art; Chrissie Iles, Curator, Film and Video, Whitney Museum of American Art; Andrew Wilson, Critic and Deputy Editor, Art Monthly; Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate and Chairman of the Jury.

Previous winners are: 1984 Malcolm Morley; 1985 Howard Hodgkin; 1986 Gilbert & George; 1987 Richard Deacon; 1988 Tony Cragg; 1989 Richard Long; 1990 (Prize suspended); 1991 Anish Kapoor; 1992 Grenville Davey; 1993 Rachel Whiteread; 1994 Antony Gormley; 1995 Damien Hirst; 1996 Douglas Gordon; 1997 Gillian Wearing; 1998 Chris Ofili; 1999 Steve McQueen; 2000 Wolfgang Tillmans; 2001 Martin Creed; 2002 Keith Tyson.