Film London and Channel 4 in association with the Whitechapel Gallery, awarded the 2012 Jarman Award to James Richards at a special event on Monday 5 November 2012.

Richards was selected from a shortlist of ten artists which also included: Marcus Coates, Shezad Dawood, Benedict Drew, Nathaniel Mellors, Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, Ben Rivers, Aura Satz, Matt Stokes, and Jon Thomson & Alison Craighead.

Richards received combined prize money of £10,000 and a commission for Channel 4’s short-form arts strand, Random Acts. Three further artists, Nathaniel Mellors; Karen Mirza & Brad Butler; and Shezad Dawood, were also commissioned to make a short film for Random Acts.

The jury panel said of Richards:

"James Richards collages disparate moments from the endless stream of digital and online imagery, bringing focus and a strong personal resonance to these otherwise fleeting and anonymous images. His impeccable sense of pacing, colour, sound and mood defines a remarkable sense of place within an increasingly virtual and intangible world. Bringing a strong, sculptural awareness of space to his installations and an informed, intelligent approach to video and found footage, Richards has helped to define a remarkable, intimate digital aesthetic that the jury was pleased to recognise with the 2012 Jarman Award."

Jarman Award 2012 jury

• Iwona Blazwick, Director, Whitechapel Gallery
• Stuart Comer, Film Curator, Tate Modern (Chair)
• Mark Cousins, Filmmaker, Author and Curator
• Aaron Cezar, Director, Delfina Foundation
• Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor for Arts, Channel 4
• Mark Rappolt, Editor, ArtReview