The next generation of artists has shared in $60,000 worth of prizes and scholarships at the COFA Annual - the exhibition of the work of more than 300 final-year students, held for the first time at CarriageWorks.

A multimedia artwork that included a life-size log cabin won the Latteria Installation Art Award.

"I'm thrilled," says the 29-year-old artist Nathan Babet, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. "I've had such great feedback about it."

The work, Unheimliche Heimat (Uncanny Homeland), draws upon the artist's connections with an old German village in the former Czechoslovakia where his grandfather grew up.

"While conducting fieldwork there, unexpected sensations surfaced that I attribute to the uncanny," says Babet. "I correlate this reaction to stories of my German family history revealed to me during my childhood and the disquiet of the area."

The work has been nominated for Hatched, an annual exhibition of Australia's art school graduates at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Sushan Yue, 20, received the Wacom Award for Best 2D Work for her animation The Butterfly Dragon.

"The butterfly dragon symbolises imagination," says Sushan, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Digital Media. "I wanted to show how everyone is unique and has their own beauty within."

Holly Philip, who graduates with a Bachelor of Design, won the Richard Dovey Medal for creating a visual identity for the Australian Men's Shed Association. She also created a book and a series of digital templates for the not-for-profit organisation.

More than 60 prizes and scholarships were announced at the COFA Annual 2010.

COFA Dean, Professor Ian Howard, congratulated the College's graduating students for their achievements and wished them well in their careers.

"Many artists and others in the industry were congratulatory about the range, standard and sheer inventiveness of the work on show," he says. "The screening of digital media students' work was the best COFA Annual showreel yet."

Media contact: Susi Hamilton, UNSW media, 9385 1583 or 0422 934 024.