The world's most lucrative art prize, ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, garnered the public vote to decide the top ten winners from over a thousand entries.
According to excerpts from the story:
A surfing enthusiast from New York has won the inaugural ArtPrize, earning $250,000 (£156,400) for his 19ft oil painting depicting the swelling sea. "To be able to use... my energy to pursue my work and not to struggle financially is a liberty that's really exquisite," said Ran Ortner, 50.
Read the complete story
here.