A selection panel reviews nominations and makes recommendations. ArtsWA’s Board of Commissioners review the panel’s recommendations and send their selections to the Governor for final approval.

Evaluation criteria. The selection panel evaluates all nominations with two shared criterions:

• Contribution to Washington State arts and culture
• Impact to a community or region over time

The selection panel also considers specific criteria for individual categories as listed below.

Anyone from Washington State who is eligible can be nominated. ArtsWA values diversity, equity, and inclusion. We believe in diverse forms of artistic expression. We strongly encourage nominations that reflect communities across the state, including historically underserved communities.

Nominees must:

• have made significant contributions to Washington arts and culture
• be either 1) a current Washington resident or 2) have resided in Washington when contributions were made
• not be a previous Governor’s Arts or Heritage Award recipient.

Additional rules:

• You may nominate yourself or your organization.
• You may nominate someone posthumously.
• You may nominate only one individual or organization in each award cycle.
• Nominators and nominees can work together to complete a nomination form.
• If multiple nominations are submitted for a single nominee, panelists will only review the first submission.
• ArtsWA will only accept applications submitted electronically through Submittable. Applications must be filled out completely in order to be accepted.
• ArtsWA will make no exceptions regarding the application deadline.
• Current ArtsWA staff and commissioners are not eligible to be nominated, nor can they submit nominations for any award.

Saving: Save your GAHA Nomination as you work on it by clicking the “Save Draft” button located at the end of this webpage. You can log out and log back in, take a break, or work on your application over several days without losing your data.

Collaboration: If multiple people from your organization will be contributing to your application, invite them to collaborate by clicking on the “Invite Collaborators” button located at the top right of this webpage.

Required Questions: Questions marked with a red asterisk ‘*‘ must be completed before you submit your application. You will not be able to submit your application if any required questions have been left unanswered.

Work samples  You can submit up to 8 work samples. These can include any combination of:

• images
• videos
• audio
• documents

Submit your work samples as digital files no larger than 4 MB each. Please note that panels generally spend a brief amount of time on work samples. Choose samples that will provide meaningful representation and impact.

• Images  Submit images as individual files or as multiple images in a single PDF. We prefer jpg for individual files.
• Audio  Submit up to 3 audio samples. Each selection should be no more than 2 minutes long. Upload each as a separate file. You may also upload a document with live links (see below).
• Video   Submit up to 3 video samples. We recommend uploading links or documents with live links (see below). You may upload the files directly if they are less than 4 MB. Video files should be no more than 3 minutes long.
• Literary samples  Submit up to 15 pages of literary work. We prefer a text document or a PDF.
• Document with live links  You can submit a text document or PDF with “live links” (hyperlinked URLs). We encourage you to include a brief narrative. For websites, list the URLs for the pages you would like the reviewers to see.

Submitting: Once you have completed your Nomination, click the “Submit” button at the end of this webpage. You will receive an automated email confirming that your Application has been successfully submitted.

Print or download a copy of your Application by navigating to your “Personal Submissions” account list. Click on your Application submission. This will open up the submission’s details page, where you can click the Download button in the upper right of the viewing box.