A BOLTON artist has bagged a nationwide art prize - and a £5,000 cheque.

Former Bolton School pupil Mark Melvin beat 2,000 other hopefuls to the prestigious Mercury Art Prize - although he admits that he never expected to win.

The 27-year-old, who studies at Central St Martins in London, received his prize at a swanky ceremony held at The Hospital gallery in Covent Garden.

He said: "I didn't expect it at all so it was a mad evening."

In addition to the cash prize, Mark's winning piece, titled "Applause", will grace the cover of the official CD of the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. The compilation album will feature tracks from the nominees.

He also won a pair of VIP tickets to the awards ceremony.

Television presenter and DJ Lauren Laverne presented the Mercury Art Prize awards, although Mark was more excited about meeting judge Sir Peter Blake - the man behind the seminal front cover image on the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

Art and design students from across the country were invited to enter the competition, which they did by uploading an image to the website.

Mark said: "I did work predominantly in video, and now my work is continuing in that vein. It's not so much a change, it's just another aspect of the work to explore."

Mark now has a busy year ahead. He has his degree to complete and exhibitions in Prague and London.

He will travel to Prague with his brother Adam, a musician with whom Mark works.

Mark said: "Working together is why I've been able to do this. He's a composer and we do live performance stuff with moving images and music which he composes."

Mark, who won the Crosby art prize in 2005 said he is now looking into ways to turn his passion into a profession and has no plans to splash the prize money on anything frivolous - instead he will save it to use towards his degree.

And although the rest of the year will be a whirlwind for Mark, people are already speculating about his future.

"Everyone keeps asking me when I'm going to win the Turner Prize," he said.