Cultural Medallion and Young Artist Award wannabes – it’s now time to huff and puff! The National Arts Council is now accepting nominations for the CM and YAA. You’ve got until April 26 to look back at your magnificent body of work, go, “Hmmm, am I really that good?” and then ask your friends to nominate you. Four broad categories: Literary Arts (plays, poetry, fiction, non-fiction), Performing Arts (theatre, dance, musical and technical theatre), Visual Arts (painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, installation and multimedia) and Film (er, film). What exactly makes a YAA or CM? Here’s what the press release says: *** Assessment by the Specialist Panels is based on the following principal criteria: a. Candidate should be recognised for his/her artistic work and contribution. b. Candidate should have attained artistic excellence (for Cultural Medallion award) or have shown potential to excel in his/her field of work (for Young Artist award). c. Candidate should demonstrate, through a body of works pursued through a number of years, creative originality and professional maturity in one or more disciplines as specified in the scope of award. d. Candidate should be an inspiration and role model to other young artists in the arts community. e. Candidate should have established his / her name internationally, or won international awards (for Cultural Medallion award). f. Candidate should be involved in educational or community development projects towards the promotion of the respective art form (for Cultural Medallion award). *** To nominate or get more info, go to the NAC’s website here. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of the CM and YAA, I’d like to bring up a point. Last week, I wrote a story on women representation in the arts – and while doing that, I sort of went down the list of CM and YAA awardees through the years. Did you know that there have only been 22 women out of the 100 CM recipients, and 28 women out of 106 YAAs. Food for thought.