The applications are presided over by one of the five Advisory Committees, panels of experts in each art form who select a shortlist and a recommendation as to the winner. The recipient of each award is then confirmed by the Trustees of The Arts Foundation and announced at the Arts Foundation Awards, hosted in January.

There are a number of reasons behind the decision to operate a nomination system, but primarily it is to maintain one of the basic principles of The Arts Foundation: the encouragement of communication and interaction between artists themselves.