Your guide to the Turner Prize

Nominated for ‘It for Others’, which was part of the Scottish pavilion at the 2013  Venice Biennale. The hour-long film includes a collaboration with choreographer Michael Clark.

Tate says ‘Campbell’s engaging films often take provocative individuals as their subject, weaving together fact and fiction to create portraits that question the authority and means through which history is presented.’

We say What’s not to love about an artist whose subjects include the history of German monetary union and the rise and fall of American car designer John DeLorean? Campbell attempts to illustrate the principle of exchange value via the medium of contemporary dance, and pulls it all together with a deft impressionist touch. Another Chisenhale protege, Campbell is that rare thing: an artist capable of making an hour of video art exciting. He’s a worthy winner.

Nominated for ‘Rosebud’, which is themed around censored images (including Robert Mapplethorpe photos with scratched-out erections) found in books in a Tokyo library. The film was included in the ‘The Encyclopedic Palace’ exhibition at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Tate says ‘In his videos and installations Richards brings together a disparate range of found and original material to create poetic meditations on the pleasure, sensuality and the voyeurism that is within the act of looking.’

We say Those VHS tapes you took to the charity shop could well end up at the Tate. Richards is an inveterate sampler of found film footage, and brings a poet’s sensitivity to his scavenged material. He may be the youngest of a remarkably youthful shortlist, but this 31 year-old Cardiff-born artist (now based in London and Berlin) has the pedigree to win: he’s already shown at Tate Britain (in 2010). And the following year he had a solo exhibition at the Chisenhale – a spawning ground for future Turner winners.

Nominated for his 2013 solo exhibition ‘Postscript II (Berlin)’ at Jan Mot, Brussels.

Tate says ‘Through fast paced spoken word live performances and recordings, Vonna-Michell creates circuitous, multi-layered narratives.’

We say Another artist nominated for a European show – was nothing going on in the UK last year? We’ve been fans of this Essex-born artist since his debut show at Cubitt in 2007, during which the then 25-year-old first unleashed his nerdy poetry slam performance style. Since then, he’s gone a bit starry, with solo shows at Baltic and Metro Pictures in New York. Compellingly unreliable, quasi-autobiographical storytelling is still at the heart of what he does. But can his tall tales translate to the august surroundings of the Tate?

Nominated for her solo exhibition at The Showroom, London.

Tate says ‘Phillips works with print in the broadest sense producing screenprints, textiles, photographs and wall paintings as site-specific installations. She often works collaboratively, transforming the gallery into a workshop and involving other artists, designers and local community groups.’

We say At last, you could find your handiwork adorning the Tate gallery walls. While it’s unlikely that Phillips will let the public produce the prints for her Turner Prize show, there’s an outside chance she’ll draw on the workshop model she used to great acclaim last year at the Showroom. A combination of art, education and activism, her work ticks a lot of contemporary art boxes. But the results are undeniably pretty. And that has to count for something, even in 2014.