The shortlist for the 2002 Turner Prize has been announced by the contest's organisers.

This year's nominees - Fiona Banner, Liam Gillick, Keith Tyson and Catherine Yass - are all British-born and are known for a wide range of work.

Last year's �20,000 prize was won by Martin Creed for his conceptual piece which consisted of an empty gallery space with the light going on and off.

Nominees are chosen by a five-strong jury led by Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota.

Fiona Banner's Your Plinth Is My Lap

Fiona Banner, from Merseyside, has created three-dimensional installations but is best known for interpreting what she sees on film, and writing it down on canvases.

One exhibition featured a recording of her reading pornography.

She is nominated for exhibitions at the Kunstverein in Aachen, Germany, and at Dundee Contemporary Arts, for large graphite drawings which used graphics, sculpture and sound.

Liam Gillick's View, Filtration 2002

Liam Gillick, born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, tries to ask questions about the built environment with installations using Plexiglass, aluminium and wood.

His work at Tate Britain and the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, gets him on the shortlist.

"He reaffirmed his ability to create complex works of art which set up the possibility of dialogue," organisers said, adding he often worked with artists from around the world on his pieces.

Keith Tyson: Praised for "playfulness"

Much of Keith Tyson's work has been inspired by scientific theories.

Tyson - who was born in Ulverston, Cumbria - is noted for his machine sculptures, and one exhibition was inspired by the concept of particle acceleration.

He is nominated for exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, the South London Gallery and Zurich's Kunsthalle. Organisers said the "energy, richness and breadth of content, the playfulness of this large graphic works, as well as the relationship to them of his machine sculptures was vividly apparent".

Descent, by Catherine Yass

London-born Catherine Yass has been acclaimed for her vivid and brightly coloured photographs.

She is nominated for her work at the Indian Triennial and at Asprey Jacques, London, which displayed her skills in creating portraits and sculptures.

Organisers praised her work which resulted from a recent stay in India, and her architecture-inspired films.

Current odds

Catherine Yass 6-4 Fiona Banner 2-1 Liam Gillick 3-1 Keith Tyson 7-2 William Hill

Entrants have to be British, under 50, and they should have presented an "outstanding exhibition" in the previous 12 months.

Creed's flashing light raised eyebrows, but the prize is designed to promote public debate about contemporary British art.

The four nominees will be invited to mount an exhibition at Tate Britain in central London from 30 October.

The prize itself will be handed out on 8 December.

This year's jury features Sir Nicholas Serota; critic and lecturer Michael Archer; Hayward Gallery director Susan Ferleger Brades; Alfred Pacquement, director of the National Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou Centre in Paris; and Greville Worthington, representing Patrons of New Art.