The Northern Art Prize is the UK's newest Art prize. © Logistik

A glittering gathering at Leeds Art Gallery, on November 22 2006, saw the naming of a select panel that will judge the winner of the brand new £16,000 arts award, the Northern Art Prize.

The new prize is being introduced as a unique award to celebrate the talents of contemporary artists based in the North of England and carries a seductive £16,500 winner’s fee.

Wakefield born 2001 Turner Prize Winner, Martin Creed will head the judging panel with other elite members of the UK’s art scene. Tate Collection curator, Ann Gallagher, will join The Independent’s art critic, Tom Lubbock, together with Turner Prize judge, Greville Worthington, to judge the prize.

Creed hopes that in acknowledging Northern artists, the prize will help to encourage new and exciting artworks and media. He said, “Art – like everything else – is all about competing, about being the best, about not losing. I hope the Northern Art Prize will help.”

Twelve arts professionals from the North East and North West of England and Yorkshire have also been selected to nominate competitors up until summer 2007, when four artists will be shortlisted for the award.

Their work will be exhibited in Leeds Art Gallery in November 2007 when the gallery re-opens after a £1.5 million refurbishment. The winner of the Northern Art Prize will be announced at a special prize giving in January 2008, where they will receive £16,500 and each of the three runners up will be given £1,500.

For northerners only - The Northern Art Prize signature 'A' immersed in the northern water of the lake district. © Logistik

The emergence of a prize specifically for artists from the North of England marks an assertion of independence from other credited arts awards such as the Turner Prize that celebrates artists under 50 working in Britain, and the Artes Mundi Exhibition that celebrates internationally emerging artists that are living and working anywhere in the world.

Leeds City Council and design and communications agency Logistik, who have come together to create the new Northern Art Prize, also feel that it is the right time for the North of England to celebrate talents from their own ground.

Councillor John Procter, Executive Board Member for Leisure, Leeds City Council said, "The provision of this new art prize by Logistik will be a valuable addition to the already thriving arts community in Leeds and the North of England. By making available such a fantastic prize I am sure that competition will be rife and the quality of art produced will be high."

David Hockney, Henry Moore and Damien Hirst are but a few of the talented artists that currently call the North their home and visual arts developments like the Liverpool Biennial, The Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Henry Moore Institute have already set out in helping recognise northern artists.