Britain's top art prize awarded to Laure Prouvost

The annual Turner Prize for art, the most prestigious contemporary art prize in Britain, has gone to French artist Laure Prouvost.

For the first time in the history of the Turner Prize, the award was presented in the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry, as part of that city's celebrations as the UK City of Culture 2013-14, Xinhua reported.

The four nominated artists this year were Prouvost, Tino Sehgal, David Shrigley, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Prouvost was nominated for her new video work Wantee commissioned with Grizedale Arts for inclusion in Schwitters in Britain at Tate Britain and for her two-part installation for the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, resulting from a residency in Italy and presented in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

Tate said in a press release that Prouvost won for "her unique approach to filmmaking, often situated within atmospheric installations, employing strong story telling, quick cuts, montage and deliberate misuse of language to create surprising and unpredictable work."

The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art, and is awarded each year to a artist under 50 for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the 12 months preceding.

Nominations are invited each year, and the prize is judged by an independent jury that changes annually. The four shortlisted artists present works in a show.