The History or Hysterical Memory, 2010 | Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60 inches. Courtesy Honor Fraser, Los Angeles.

It's official: it's a sweep. In a remarkable first, in addition to winning our inaugural Reader's Choice Poll recently, Annie Lapin has now been selected as the winner of the first New American Paintings Annual Prize. Awarded by a jury of seasoned curators and previous jurors, the NAP Annual Prize is a cash gift of $1,000, courtesy of the magazine, awarded to one of the 12 Noteworthy artists from the six editions of the past year.

The panel for the Annual Prize consisted of three previous NAP jurors who have not made selections in the last year, including Jen Mergel, The Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dominic Molon, Chief Curator, The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and Ian Berry, Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator at The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. Noteworthy artists of 2010 nominated for the award included: Matthew Bourbon, Joseph Cohen, Megan Dirks, Jim Gaylord, Vera Iliatova, Mike Nudelman, Matthew Penkala, Chris Scarborough, Ellen Siebers, Amy Sherald, and Bart Vargas.

Annie Lapin and her work will be the subject of a forthcoming video collaboration with Future Shipwreck, which will appear here on the blog in the coming weeks. (If you haven't seen our first video with Iva Gueorguieva, don't miss it!) Lapin will also be featured in a solo show of her work, from May 21 - June 29, at Honor Fraser in Los Angeles, where the artist is based. You can see more of Annie's work on the blog here!