The shortlist for the Catlin Art Prize 2015 has been announced. Now in its ninth year, the Catlin Art Prize is a curated exhibition featuring artists selected from The Catlin Guide 2015. Taking place between the 8th and the 30th of May 2015, this exhibition is now firmly established as a vital showcase for new work made during the crucial first year after art school.

The 2015 Catlin Art Prize finalists are: Jon Baker (Chelsea College of Arts), Felicity Hammond (Royal College of Art), Oliver Hickmet (City & Guilds of London Art School), Nicholas Johnson (Royal College of Art), Paul Schneider (Royal Academy of Arts), Lexi Strauss (Royal College of Art), Dominic Watson (The Glasgow School of Art) and Zhu Tian (Royal College of Art).

Finalists are selected from The Catlin Guide 2015 for their potential to make a significant mark on the art world in the next decade. Shortlisted artists receive mentoring and generous production assistance to encourage ambitious new projects for the exhibition.

The Catlin Art Prize is unique in implementing this framework. It is this support and the high production values of the exhibition that distinguish the Catlin Art Prize from other survey shows and prizes.

A panel of judges will award one artist with a prize of £5,000 at a private ceremony on Wednesday 13th May. The public will also have their say, with the winner of the Visitor Vote awarded £2,000. Votes will be cast via a ballot box at the Londonewcastle Project Space.

Many previous Catlin Art Prize finalists are building successful careers nationally and internationally.

The 2014 prize-winner, painter Neil Raitt, has gone on to complete a successful residency and solo exhibition at the Goss-Michael Foundation in Dallas, one of the leading contemporary British art collections in the United States. He is currently preparing for a solo exhibition with Los Angeles-based gallery Anat Ebgi.

Sculptor Virgile Ittah, also a 2014 finalist, was awarded the Royal British Society for Sculptors Bursary in the same year. Her installation for the Catlin Art Prize – two wax figures and pair of cast iron beds (Echoue au seuil de la Raison) – was acquired by collector Charles Saatchi and will be featured in the Saatchi Gallery’s Autumn 2015 show, A Woman’s Hand.

As title sponsors of the Catlin Art Prize, Catlin – one of the world’s leading insurers of fine art – continues to help realise the ambitions of promising new artists.

The show will run daily 11am - 6pm and Sundays 12pm - 4pm.