A SCULPTURE that was awarded the inaugural Jerwood Sculpture Prize has been unveiled at Witley Court.

The bronze piece was created by Benedict Carpenter, who studied art in London, and is the first winner of the £20,000 prize, which was created to encourage and reward emerging talent in outdoor sculpture.

The 2001 prize was open to anyone under 35, or had graduated from art school in the previous 10 years, and was awarded to work which demonstrated originality and excellence in the field of sculpture.

The winner is titled Universal Object, and is an ambiguous form based on the famous Rorschach ink blot tests used for psychological assessments.

Benedict Carpenter was the youngest of the eight short-listed sculptors.

He studied sculpture at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art, from where he graduated in 1999.