THERE was a break with tradition at the annual three-day Richmond Art Festival, held over the bank holiday weekend.

The Darlington & Stockton Times prize is normally presented to the best view of Richmond in the exhibition.

This year, judge John Kerr decided to award it to Monroe – a striking portrait of the iconic Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe by Gary Cox, of Richmond.

Mr Kerr said: “This year, no one view of the town stood out as exceptional and I felt this portrait really did. It captures the seductiveness and the sultriness of Monroe, but in the eyes you can also see the sadness.”

The £100 best picture prize, sponsored by Lupton Fawcett solicitors of Leeds, went to an oil on canvas called Bradford Canal, a view of sunlight through a canopy of leaves, by the Richmond artist Helen Andrews.

She said she had painted since the age of ten and, although she had exhibited before at Richmond, the winning picture was her first submission to the show following a period of illness.

Mr Kerr praised the picture’s freshness and vitality, saying it had captured the quality of the light perfectly.

Other prize winners were Andrew Woodhouse, of Bedale, who won the Taylors of Harrogate prize for his picture Flowers in St Mary’s Churchyard, Thornton Watlass, which Mr Kerr singled out for its “impressionist style and feel-good quality.”

The Tesco Stores prize was won by Rachel Mc- Naughton, of Leeds, with her painting Hellebores. Mr Kerr, who has taught art at the old Scorton Grammar School, Barnard Castle School and Risedale School, said it showed great technique and a fine threedimensional quality.

The exhibition was held in Richmond Town Hall.