In a nutshell, The Best of Manchester Awards celebrate innovation in art, music and fashion. Organised by Urbis and judged by a panel of industry experts, these annual awards spotlight the boundary-breaking, genre defying kind of work for which Manchester has long been renowned.

We set up the awards to support those who are doing something that's genuinely innovative, have gone against the grain to try something new, or have demonstrated a real entrepreneurial streak. The categories, for example, are deliberately open, as we hope to encourage entries from those working across disciplines.

Often, innovation comes precisely at the point where boundaries are blurred or disciplines mixed - and the Best of Manchester Awards are, above all, a celebration of novel, unexpected ideas.

The 2009 shortlist for  art, music, and fashion was announced on Monday 15 June. The winners, announced on Thursday 23 July will each receive a £2,000, the chance to take part in a major exhibition at Urbis and a tailored professional development package that will help them fast track their career or business.

Read on about some of the successes of our 2008 shortlisted candidates below...

the 2008 story continues

The Best of Manchester Awards are a chance for winners to kick-start their career with the kinds of contacts and professional development that money can't buy. Don't believe us? For the 2008 nominees and winners, 2008 was just the start:

Art winner Naomi Kashiwagi has gone on to stage performances at the Barbican (London) and the Whitworth Art Gallery. She took advantage of an Urbis sponsored trip to the Frieze and Zoo art fairs, meeting curators and artists there to talk about how to develop her practice. Kashiwagi also featured in a group show at Cornerhouse at the end of 2008, won the Individual Artist Award at the Arts Council's art08 awards and has secured a solo exhibition in Tokyo later this year. Urbis hopes to represent her at the 2009 Buy Art Fair and is in talks about working together on a new project...

Fashion nominee Nabil el Nayal is the darling of Vogue and has ben tipped by the national press as 'the next face of British womenswear'. He swiped the Womenswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week last summer and won a place on the Royal College of Arts' Womenswear MA (alumni include Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen). Thanks to Urbis, Nabil's couture collection became the star of its own fashion shoot in Flux Magazine, with the resulting photographs displayed at Harvey Nichols Manchester last October.

Fashion winner  of the Rags to Bitches boutique went on to win Best Female Clothes Shop in the Galaxy 2008 Awards and was Highly Commended for Best Womenswear in the Drapers Awards. After a Guardian write-up, Rags to Bitches have seen run a series of sold-out events at Urbis. Simon's partner, Flic Everett, has also been asked to join this year's fashion judging panel.

These are just some of the Best of Manchester 2008 stories. We're proud of all our nominees and winners and hope to continue suporting them for many years to come.

dates for your diary....

• The shortlist has now been announced
•  The winners will be announced live at an awards ceremony at Urbis on 23 July
•  The Best of Manchester 2009 exhibition runs at Urbis from 24 July – 20 September 2009