David Fennessy receives a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for 2010.

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2010 Awards for Visual Arts and Awards for Composers.  Among the Composers selected this year was Irish composer David Fennessy currently based in Glasgow. Each recipient receives an award of £45,000, paid in three annual instalments of £15,000, to support them in their artistic development

David Fennessy on the importance of this award:

“it is truly an honour to receive it. I am greatly relieved to know that, over the coming three years, I will have this guaranteed income. Without the constant noise of the wolf scratching at the door, it will be easier to concentrate on making good work.".

The aim of the Awards is to give artists the freedom to develop their creative ideas and to contribute to their personal and professional growth. Nominators (20 for the Awards for Visual Arts and 12 for the Awards for Composers) put forward the name of up to five artists who live and practise in the UK. Nominated artists are then invited to submit an application which includes biographical details, examples of their work and a short statement saying how they would benefit from an Award. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards are made at a critical point in an artist's career, without being age-specific or having any strings attached in terms of how the money can be used. 2010 recipients join an illustrious group of previous awardees, including composers Luke Bedford, Tansy Davies, Janek Schaefer and Evan Parker.

Joanna MacGregor, the pianist and broadcaster, who was a judge for this year's Awards for Composers, said:

"The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists offer generous, absolutely indispensable, no-strings-attached support over a period of three years. The three outstanding composers chosen this year have unique backgrounds and voices all of them are original, challenging, and supremely imaginative, making music and breaking boundaries in ways that are vitally energising and creative. I'm delighted to have been involved in this prestigious Award."

For more information on the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards visit: www.phf.org.uk