MADRID, SPAIN.- The Spanish government’s official newspaper announced that candidates for the Velázquez Award for Visual Arts for the year 2002 can be presented until the end of the month of April, 2002. The award will be given once a year and will recognize the professional development of Spanish and Ibero-American artists and will be given 90,000 Euros. The award was created in the month of March by the Cultural Affairs Commission to be for Arts what the Cervantes Award is for Literature. The Queen Sofía Museum will hold an exhibition on the work of the Artist that gets the award. Six months after the award is given, the winning artist will name an artist younger than 35 years for the Velázquez Scholarship for one year and 30,000 Euros.