The Turner Prize 2004
...he previous twelve months. It is only awarded to people under fifty in order to stop younger artists having to compete with artists at the height of their careers. There is prize money for the winner; this is donated by a sponsor. The first sponsor was Oliver Prenn, a founder member of the Patrons of New Art, who put up ten thousand pounds. Drexel Burnham Lambert International Inc., an American investment company, followed him in 1987. The prize was then suspended for a year when the company went bankrupt. From 1994 Channel four became the sponsors and raised the prize money to twenty thousand pounds. This year the prize was sponsored by Gordon’s Gin and they have increased the prize money again to Forty thousand pounds, twenty-five of this going to the winner and five to each of the other shortlisted artists. Of course not everybody likes or agrees with the Turner Prize and since the award ceremony was broadcasted live various groups have staged protests. Groups such as ‘Fanny Adams’ who protest against the male dominati...