The search is on for the UK’s favourite lottery projects

It is almost 15 years since the Scottish Arts Council received application number 001 for National Lottery funding. Now the search is on to find the UK’s favourite lottery funded projects. The first application came from the Scottish Poetry Library towards a new permanent home in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

This year the Scottish Poetry Library celebrates its 25th anniversary, as well as 10 years in the now much-used and much-loved ‘new’ library building.

The award-winning building in Edinburgh’s Crichton’s Close, which has been described as ‘a hidden, airy and welcoming haven’ and ‘a poem in glass and stone’, created a permanent home for the collection of over 30,000 items of poetry and a base for the year-round programme of public events and activities.

The Scottish Poetry Library grant may have been the first, but is it your favourite? The National Lottery is looking for your nominations for the 2009 National Lottery Awards the annual search to find the UK’s favourite lottery-funded projects. With seven categories including ‘Best Arts Project’ the awards are a great opportunity to gain profile for an organisation and celebrate the contribution the National Lottery has made to the arts in Scotland.

Since the lottery began Scottish Arts Council has awarded almost £290 million in lottery grants to arts projects and organisations the length and breadth of the country through over 7,000 grants. The National Lottery Awards provide an opportunity to celebrate what these projects have achieved and recognise the impact they have had on people and communities.

Projects can nominate themselves or you can nominate your favourite project and the projects that make it to the finals of The National Lottery Awards will appear on a star-studded prime-time BBC1 TV show later this year; they will also have a chance to win a £2,000 cash prize.

Nominations can be made online at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards and by calling 0845 070 0112. Entries must be received by 5pm on Friday 13 March 2009.