© Sophie Dickens

Sophie Dickens, the winner of the inaugural competition for the Prize in 2006/7, says -

"Winning the Founders' Prize has given me confidence and a feeling of credibility - that I was successfully engaging with the outside world from the comparative isolation of my studio. It encouraged me to make a sculpture that was better than any that I had made previously. The prize has since become a bench mark for me to produce work that gives a similar sense of satisfaction."