VIENNA.- For the third occasion the ESSL ART AWARD CEE prize winners will be presented in a group exhibition at the Essl Museum, opening in December 2009. The ESSL ART AWARD CEE was founded in 2005 by the collector couple Agnes and Karlheinz Essl with a view to supporting young artists in the countries where bauMax has a business presence. Since then, the prize has been awarded every second year. Among the prize winners in previous years were artists such as Kateřina Šedá (Documenta 12, Manifesta 2008) and Jakub Nepraš, who have by now achieved international acclaim. In 2009, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia have, for the first time, been joined by Romania. Students at all the art academies in these countries entered their works via the Internet. Ten applicants each were selected by an international jury. In May this year, the works of these nominees were presented in the six