Vote for your favourite art

Local individual artists or organisations stand to win £10,000 with the launch of the art08 awards. And the organisers want the public, as well as local artists, to have a say in who wins.

The art08 awards were set up to promote and celebrate excellence and innovation in local arts. Entries can be from any field and any discipline – nominations for festivals, dance, theatre, visual and combined arts, literature and music are all welcome. There are five award categories and an overall £10,000 prize will be awarded for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts.

The categories are: 'Individual Artist Award 2008', 'Inside, Outside and Online' (celebrating where great art has found its way into people’s lives in innovative ways), 'Putting the North West on the Map' (recognising where an individual or organisation has raised the region’s profile and creative reputation), 'Creative Sparks!' (celebrating an arts partnership with business) and 'Unsung Heroes' (recognising ‘back room' players who have helped make an arts project a success). Last year’s winner of the £10,000 award was Manchester’s Jon Winstanley, the founder of Sketch City which gives a platform for artists.

Artists can nominate themselves or be nominated by logging onto www.artscouncil.org.uk/art08 and the public can use the website to vote for their favourites. The closing date for nominations is Friday 3 October.