Take note and give your creative friends a big pat on the back -- we're announcing the finalists for the 2013 Big Brain Awards.

The award was created to recognize emerging local creatives, and for the past few weeks we've been narrowing the long list of submissions to 18 finalists in six categories.

See also: - 2012 Big Brain Awards Winners Announced - Big Brain Awards 2013: Nominate Emerging Phoenix Creatives for Cash Prizes

On April 27, from 7 to 11 p.m., we'll be honoring six winners with $500 cash prizes in the categories of craft, design, online, visual art, culinary, and performing art at Monarch Theatre in Phoenix during our annual Artopia celebration.

We'll be profiling the finalists in the April 25 issue of New Times and on our blogs in the next few weeks. In the meantime, here are their names:

CRAFT Ashley Cooper Keytha Fixico Brandon Boetto

VISUAL ART 1Spot Kelsey Dake David Emitt Adams

PERFORMING ART MAN-CAT Leah Marche Space 55

DESIGN Lindsay Kinkade Justin Katz Jon Arvizu

ONLINE Dust Circuit Radio Club Fonograma Lightning Octopus

CULINARY Check them out on Chow Bella ...

Tickets to Artopia go on sale this Thursday, March 28. Stay tuned to the Big Brain page for more details ...

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• Big Brain Awards