The 5th Annual Viola Awards!

The Viola Awards are Flagstaff's Oscars for the arts and sciences community. Celebrating excellence in the arts and sciences, the Viola Awards recognize artists, educators, organizations and leaders who make positive contributions to the arts and sciences in Flagstaff. Over 500 people attend the gala event to celebrate and support these amazing folks.

Nominations are sent to Flagstaff Cultural Partners by the community at large; anyone can nominate an artist, leader, organization, business or event for an award in one of eleven categories. From this pool of nominees, a Panel of 25 local artists, scientists and community members select six nominees in each category to be the Official Viola Award Nominees (see the full list of nominees for 2012). The Panel then meets to determine the winner in each category.

The Viola Award winners are announced each year at the Viola Awards Gala Event. This year's event is on Saturday, March 2, 2013, at the High Country Conference Center in Flagstaff.

The Viola Awards are named after Viola Babbitt, a long time advocate of the arts and painter. Viola was born in the Arizona territory in 1894. She taught music and reading before settling into a big house on Leroux Street in Flagstaff. She raised six children with her husband, Joseph. In the 1950's, she started painting and later, established the Art Barn as Flagstaff's first community arts center. She lobbied Coconino County to build a better facility for a community arts center: the Coconino Center for the Arts. Viola died in 1994, just shortly after her 100th birthday.