VOINA, a scatological Russian art collective, has won a state-backed art prize for painting a 65-metre penis on a city drawbridge.

Members of Voina (''the war'') - two of whom are awaiting trial on hooliganism charges - whitewashed the decoration on a bridge in St Petersburg last June. When the bridge was raised, the erect phallus faced the local headquarters of the FSB, successor to the KGB.

The art whitewashed on a St Petersburg drawbridge.

The work, A Dick Held Prisoner at the FSB, was awarded the 400,000 rouble ($13,500) 2010 innovation prize by the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow last week.

The graffito was scrubbed off the bridge by authorities after a few hours but pictures of it became an internet sensation. The prize, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture, was awarded after weeks of wrangling, during which Voina's entry was excluded, then reinstated. Andrei Yerofeyev, the curator who announced the winner, described the phallus as an outstanding work which stemmed from a Russian tradition of ''socially engaging art''.

Voina said it would donate the prize money to political prisoners. Two members of the group are awaiting trial in relation to a guerilla performance in September, when the group turned over several police cars in St Petersburg. British street artist Banksy donated £80,000 ($124,000) from a print sale to Voina after hearing about the prosecution.

GUARDIAN