ADAM King, head of foundation art studies at Harrogate College, has won the £200 top prize in the 2010 Harrogate Open Exhibition with his mixed-media work Scape Goat.

The £100 second prize has gone to painter Balbinder Olak for High Windows and six artists have received special commendations of £50 each: Kathy Barton for her watercolour portrait Reverie; Kim Coley for her pastel drawing Someone Else’s Coat; Clive Day for his pastel drawing Big Pink; Tim Frankland for his egg tempera painting My Mother In Our 1960s Kitchen; Daren Higham for his oil painting Open Edgeland; and Zara Worth for her mixed media work On Longing.

The selectors for this Mercer Art Gallery showcase for the Harrogate district’s talented were North Yorkshire artist John Creighton; freelance visual arts consultant Jen Hallam; and Jane Sellars, Curator of Art for Harrogate Borough Council.

“The standard of work this year is higher than ever, but the winners all stood out for their skill and originality,” says Jane. “The top prize winner, Harrogate artist Adam King, has created a stunning piece of art.”

Artists in all media entered 517 works of art for the Harrogate Open, from which the panel selected 187 works by 122 artists for exhibition.

The chosen ones are: David Allen; Chris Bailey; Jack Banister; Maggie Barnes; Kathy Barton; Linda Baxter; Simon Beer; David Frank Beresford; Alan Bicknell; Ross Billows; Susan Bird; John Blackman; Diana Bourne-Arton; Julia Bowland; Richard Bown; Gordon Broadhurst; Jane Burnley; Robbie Burns.

Barbara Cassell; Helen Cassidy; Leslie Child; David Clapham; Kim Coley; Simon Crawford; Susan Dalby; Clive Day; Carole De Jong; Sylvia Dilling; Heather Dormer; Gillian Dunmore; Yvonne Elvin; Helen Enty; Ken Fackrell; Heather Foster; Tim Frankland; Linzi Froggatt; Sarah Garforth; Peter Garner; Rosalind Gascoyne; Sue Gell; Joy Godfrey; Ronald Gordon; Clare Granger; Ben Greenwood; Jane Greenwood; Pam Grimmond; Margaret Guenin.

Lucy Hainsworth; Paul Harris; Kevin Haynes; Julia Heaton; Daren Higham; Ken Jaquiery; Annette Jeffery; Carol Jones; Ann Joslin; Adam King; Jackie Knight; Michelle Lamb; Colin Lee; Clare Lindley Myles Linley; Maureen Little; Terry Logan; Joan Love; Dorothy Lowther; Caroline Machray; Elena Magorean-Putley; Emerson Mayes; Joyce McGregor; Beverley McNab; Moira McTague; Peter Miller; David Morris; Margaret Morris; Deborah Moxon.

Betty Naughton; Andrea Newall; Andy Northing; Julia Odell; Balbinder Olak; David Oxley; Elizabeth Parkinson; Jean Parkinson; John Page; C J Philipson; Linda Pieters; Julia Potter; Alex Purves; Sylvia Richard; Mike Robson; Joyce Rowland; Austin Ruddy; Chris Rymer; Lucy Scott; Malcolm Scott; Simon Sellar; Roger Silvester; Martin Sloan; Richard Snowden; Anne Spence; Jack Stancombe.

Dorothy Thelwall; Joanna Thompson; Gwen Turner; Sheila Venamore; Doug Wales; Mike Wallis Jackie Waring; David Webber; Edward Webster; and Zara Worth.

Last year the Mercer Art Gallery introduced the Harrogate Open People’s Prize, and once more visitors have the chance to vote for the work they like the best in the 2010 show. The winning artist will receive £100 from the Friends of the Mercer Art Gallery, who have donated all the prizes.

The exhibition runs until September 12 at the Mercer Art Gallery, Swan Road, Harrogate. Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; Sunday, 2pm to 5pm. Admission is free.