READERS of The Times will be able to vote for the most exciting new face for 2005 in a unique link-up with the The South Bank Show, the country’s leading arts programme.

The Times/South Bank Show Breakthrough Award will be awarded on Thursday, January 27, at The Savoy hotel in London, when Britain’s most creative and popular artists will be honoured in front of an impressively glamorous audience.

The South Bank Show panel has nominated some splendidly eclectic shortlists for the awards this year, with names and productions from ten disciplines: from theatre to dance and opera to television drama — from Alan Bennett’s The History Boys to choreographer Wayne MacGregor, from Opera North to Coronation Street.

The films nominated are My Summer of Love, Dead Man’s Shoes and Shaun of the Dead; classical music is represented by Harrison Birtwistle, Stephen Hough and Daniel Hope; and the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Morrissey battle in the name of pop.

The other categories are comedy, literature and the visual arts.

And now for the first time Times readers can vote for The Times/South Bank Show Breakthrough Award, which will salute new British talent.

Why is the new award important? Melvyn Bragg, the creator and producer of The South Bank Show, says: “I think it’s good that people who are just starting out in their careers should be made available to a wide television audience. If one can broadcast achievements, there is a chance that this talent will be seeded on a much larger and more general scale.

“That’s very good for those who receive the work and for those doing the work.”

Does it matter that the Times prize forces competition between artists in different disciplines? Bragg says: “It is more difficult, but I think there is a certain playfulness with this award. And it is not the beginning and end of these people’s careers, but it is a terrific boost for an emerging talent.”

Most important, Bragg reckons, is that the nominations for the award make us realise the arts in Britain are in a very healthy state.

He says: “On the whole in this country there is a lot of very good stuff going on. We were spoilt for choice with our nominations and your readers will be spoilt for choice in their voting.”

Details of how to vote will be published in The Times soon, and two readers will win the chance to attend the awards and cheer on the first Breakthrough star.

HERE are the Times critics’ nominees for the Times Breakthrough award:

Ben Whishaw, actor. Raw, vulnerable, spontaneous, moving as Hamlet.

James McAvoy, TV actor (Shameless, State of Play). Talented, versatile and good-looking.

Nicola Benedetti, musician. Seventeen-year-old Scottish violinist who has dazzled critics and audiences.

Mark Stone, opera baritone. The next Bryn Terfel/Simon Keenlyside.

Lauren Cuthbertson, dancer. Impressively strong and confident.

Razorlight, coolest pop group on the planet.

Andrea Levy, writer. Strong, vivid, memorable.

Will Smith, stand-up comedian. Elegant purveyor of toff humour.

Amma Asante, film director. Brassy young talent with terrific promise.

Lali Chetwynd, visual artist. Original, witty twist to painting and performance art.