And the winner of John Moores 2010 is...

The announcement of the winner of John Moores 2010 was made last night by acclaimed painter and competition judge, Alison Watt to a rapturous response by the private view audience and the press. Described by fellow judge, Sir Norman Rosenthal, as the 'Oscar of the British painting world' the John Moores Painting Prize was awarded to Keith Coventry for his painting 'Spectrum Jesus'. This haunting portrait in shades of dark blue invites you to get up close so you can peer into its dark depths!

I spoke to Keith and asked him about his inspiration for this painting and also about how he thinks the medium of paint fits into today's contemporary art world. If you want to find out his thoughts, then come back soon to our video page to watch the video interview!

We also shared the event with the world via a live video webcast on our website. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is the first time this has been done in the competition's 53 year history. Thanks to everyone who tuned in to watch - all 395 of you! We also got you all talking on Twitter, with lots of comments using our #JM2010 hashtage - you can read them here.

You can read about all the artists in the exhibition in our online catalogue or buy a copy of the exhibition catalogue, which has loads more exclusive commentary from the jury.

The exhibition opens tomorrow at the Walker Art Gallery and it's well worth coming along to see the winning painting in the flesh as small images don't really do it justice!