Artist Dan Shelton has scooped a £10,000 prize and plans to use the money to patent his greatest asset - himself.

Dan, of Quebec Street, Brighton, believes artists are undervalued and, in some cases, treated with contempt.

So he has decided to put himself in the spotlight by copyrighting himself as a work of art.

And if his bid is successful he plans to post himself to his house by recorded delivery.

Dan, 23, one of The Argus' 100 Faces chosen to celebrate the dawn of the new millennium, won the Creative Minority Award.

The performance artist, who uses dance and theatre, submitted his plan to copyright himself as the essential artist and caught the imagination of Fred Webb.

He said: "By patenting myself I will demonstrate ownership of myself as an object in order to challenge society's view that I have less value than the art I produce.

"I'm not even sure if it is possible yet but I am taking legal advice on the matter."

Dan plans to document his progress in a video diary.

The former University College Chichester student, who is working with voluntary, youth and community groups, appears regularly at the Komedia in Brighton with partner Darren Beaumont. The pair have just finished filming for a new ITV2 show called Gagging For It.

Fred Webb, wife of Charles Webb, author of The Graduate runs the Creative Minority web site.

She said Dan's idea was a highly original definition of the artist-society relationship.