Update: Nell Gifford wins! Click here for a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Nell flanked on either side by Richard Bacon and Janet Street-Porter as she takes the duck.
So London's Groucho Club has announced a new award, the Groucho Maverick Prize, mentioned here only because Giffords Circus founder and author Nell Gifford has made the shortlist. For a plausible explanation of her presence look no further than the selecting panel, which for this inaugural year includes arch-publicist and former Archaos PR man Mark Borkowski.
However you might feel about the authority of a members-only social club owned by an immense private equity firm to recognise 'maverick' artists, the £10,000 prize would at least be put to good use. Note that the winner will also receive a Grouch Club lifetime membership and the pictured sculpture, by Jonathan Coleman, which I think we can agree could very nearly have been designed with Giffords Circus specially in mind.
The winner will be announced and the prize awarded on 1 November.