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Nominations for Premju għall-Arti 2023 open

Published on Tuesday 27 June 2023

The awards are Arts Council Malta’s celebration of the main achievements of the Maltese cultural and creative industries, rewarding excellence and encouraging more professionalism in the sector.

Nominations for the Premju għall-Arti 2023 are now open. The awards reward excellent, innovative, and outstanding work premiered throughout last year’s season and to champion the advancement of the status of the artists and cultural and creative practitioners, in line with Arts Council Malta’s (ACM) first guiding principle as stipulated in its Strategy2025. 

Categories for Premju għall-Arti 2023

 

There are 14 competitive categories and three non-competitive awards:

 

  1. Best artistic programme or season 2021/2022 - This award recognises the most outstanding artistic programme presented in terms of the quality of the work proposed, its impact on the arts sector, nationally, and its overall critical acclaim. Nominated programmes may be festivals, artistic programmes related to specific venues or programmes proposed by Public Cultural Organisations occurring between 2021 and 2022.
  2. Best artistic programme or season 2022/2023 – This follows the same criteria as the previous award, but is focused on programmes proposed by Public Cultural Organisations occurring between 2022 and 2023.
  1. Award for national artistic excellence - This award will recognise the most outstanding artistic production or project organised by a Public Cultural Organisation in the eligible timeframe. The award acknowledges the PCO which has strived to further strenghten the local cultural and creative ecology through its work, by leaving a positive impact on the sector. 
  1. Best work for young audiences - The award is aimed at productions which engage creative professionals producing artistic works of excellence which inspires and engages children and young people up to 16 years of age. Nominated projects may be art projects, performances, concerts, exhibitions, films, interdisciplinary artistic works, and audio-visual works created specifically for young audiences.  
  1. Best project in the community - The award focuses particularly on outstanding arts-driven social engagement, social and cultural exchange, inclusivity, and participatory creative process. Projects proposed may be art projects, performances, concerts, exhibitions, films, interdisciplinary artistic works, and audio-visual works created specifically with and for a community.

  2. -9 Production of the year – This includes 5 separate categories to cover theatre, dance, visual arts,     multidisciplinary and music. These awards recognises the most outstanding artistic production within the specific discipline, presented in terms of the quality of the work, its impact on the arts sector both nationally and, if relevant, internationally as well as the overall critical acclaim.  
  1. Best international achievement - This award celebrates outstanding work by Maltese or Malta based artists that have demonstrated an extraordinary effort in pushing boundaries and in building international bridges, managing to break through the international sphere and achieving international success. Projects can include artistic projects, one-off performances/concerts/exhibitions, tours, films, interdisciplinary artistic works, international collaboration projects, and audio visual works presented through any form of public presentation on an international level during the eligible period.

11. Best creative and innovative enterprise - This award seeks to recognise the creative and innovative enterprise that achieved outstanding performance in a number of areas such as sustainability, economic growth, job creation, collaboration with enterprises in other sectors, access to new national and international markets, diversification of its creative output and development of an innovative creative product or service. The award acknowledges projects which, through the use of innovative concepts and practice, have pushed artistic boundaries and contributed to the advancement of the arts. Projects can include artistic projects, performances, concerts, exhibitions, films, interdisciplinary artistic work, and audio-visual work. 

12. Young artist award - The young artist award acknowledges the most outstanding young practitioner whose artistic formation, achievement and commitment have distinguished them. This category may consider individuals or a group. In the latter case, the majority of artists must be aged between 13 and 30.

13. Artist award - This award recognises the most outstanding artist based on the quality of the work in terms of presentation and execution, impact on the arts sector and overall critical acclaim.  The award acknowledges the artist that has pushed artistic boundaries and contributed to the advancement of the arts in the Maltese islands across any art form. Public entities are not eligible.

Nominations are also being received for the following non-competitive awards:

  1. Lifetime achievement award - To recognise an individual, who, during their lifetime has made significant creative contributions to Malta’s cultural and creative sector. 

The public is invited to nominate who they believe is the most deserving artist in terms of the award criteria below. Once nominated, nominees will be evaluated by the adjudication board. The board reserves the right to nominate a winner in the case where none of the nominees fit the nomination criteria. 

  1. Honour for cultural promoters – Celebrating individuals, groups or organizations whohave left a significant mark on the creative local and/or international sector. Those receiving the award are those who in their personal or professional capacity triggered, influenced, financed, and had a positive impact on the national and / or international creative ecology. 
  2. Honour for artistic legacy - Honouring individuals, groups, or organisations who through their activities promote the Maltese cultural scene. Those receiving the award are individuals or organizations who promote national social values, traditions, customs, practices, and aesthetics that highlight Maltese culture and hold tradition at the very heart of their activity.

 

The Nomination Process 

Projects and productions that premiered or launched in the Maltese islands or internationally between 1st October 2021 and 31st of August 2023 are eligible for nomination. Applicants for the Best artistic programme or season 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 must be Public Cultural Organisations. For all other competitive categories, applications can be put forward by an individual, entities, cultural NGOs, companies and/or collectives.

Nominations for the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 season are accepted until the 22nd of September 2023(noon), while those for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 season will be accepted throughout the year, during or after their production. 

Nominations received for the Best Work for Young Audiences, Best Project in the Community, Best International Achievement, and Best Creative and Innovative Enterprise will be shortlisted by an adjudication board and then move on to public voting via www.premju.mt. Nominations for the honours’ categories will be evaluated by an internal board. 

Eligible submissions will be assessed by a board of jurors composed of external evaluators and Arts Council Malta representatives. The jurors will be selected on the basis of their professional experience related to the categories and specific art forms, and they may be assigned to adjudicate on more than one category. Assessments will be carried out anonymously. In the case of the three honours, the jurors will be Arts Council Malta representatives. 

 

Shortlisted Applicants & Awards Night

The highest five ranking submissions in each competitive category will be announced online. Nominations for the Honours categories will be announced directly during the awards’ ceremony.

The nomination with the highest mark in every category will be announced as the winner during the Awards Night, with winners being presented with a prestigious Arts Council Malta trophy created by artist Kane Calì. 

For more information regarding the nomination process and/or the Awards send an e-mail to awards@artscouncilmalta.mt.

 

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