Leigh Anne Lester Wins 2011 Hunting Art Prize

HOUSTON, May 2, 2011 - Hunting PLC announced that Mutant Spectre by San Antonio artist Leigh
Anne Lester is the winner of the $50,000 Hunting Art Prize for 2011.

(Photo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110502/DA92896 )

The graphite drawing was selected from 110 finalist pieces in the 31st
annual award program, which is sponsored by the global oil services company
and is the most generous annual art prize in North America for painting and
drawing.

The announcement came during an evening awards gala on Saturday, April
30, at the Friedkin Corporate Campus, Gulf States Toyota, in Houston.

Lester focuses her work on addressing the genesis of genetic modification
and its aftereffects. Her pieces have been shown in solo exhibitions
throughout Texas and across the nation, and have garnered notable reviews in
a range of publications, including New York Arts Magazine, the Chicago
Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

"I'm honored to have been selected among such a distinguished group of
artists," Lester said after the announcement. "I am also very grateful to
Hunting for this recognition, and will do my best to honor the company and
the Prize."

Lester is the co-founder, co-owner, and co-curator of the cactus bra
SPACE, an alternative exhibition space for new artists, and is the manager of
San Angel Folk Art Gallery, which houses the largest collection of folk art
in the United States. Her work has been featured in a number of collections,
both nationally and internationally.

She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from The University of
Texas at San Antonio and completed a residency at the Ucross Foundation in
Clearmont, Wyoming.

For more information about the 2011 winner, visit
www.cactusbraspace.com/lal.

The Hunting Art Prize is open to amateur, up-and-coming, and established
artists in Texas who are 18 years of age or older. This year's competition
saw more than 1,600 entries from more than 200 cities and towns throughout
the state. Submissions underwent a two-tiered jury process, after which
nationally respected judges from Missouri, Florida, and Pennsylvania selected
Lester's work as the 2011 winner.

In 2006, the competition moved to Houston, where Hunting's North American
headquarters are located, after a quarter-century in the United Kingdom.

About Hunting PLC

Hunting PLC is an international oil services company providing support
solutions to the world's largest oil and gas concerns. Established in 1874,
it is a fully listed public company, traded on the London Stock Exchange. For
further information, visit www.hunting.plc.uk.

Shari King, +1-713-869-4939, shari at fusefive.com