Picture preview: Threadneedle now biggest art prize in UK

With a record-prize of £30,000 and three times more work on exhibition than last year, The Threadneedle Prize 2012 will undoubtedly make for an interesting contest.

The competition, which is now the UK's biggest prize for a single piece of art, pits 153 works by 144 painters and sculptors against each other to find the best new piece of 2012.

Visitors attending the exhibition at The Mall, Trafalgar Square, can nominate their favourite piece for a £10,000 Visitors’ Choice Prize.

The top prize will be judged by a panel of experts including sculptor Peter Randall-Page, National Gallery curator Christopher Riopelle and writer and curator Nicholas Usherwood.

The winners of both the Threadneedle Prize and the Visitors’ Choice Prize will be announced at an awards’ dinner by television personality, columnist and professional poker player Victoria Coren.