The People’s Choice Award has a $5000 prize awarded by public vote.

Jarryd started dancing at the age of three at his local dance school in Wauchope.

In 2005, aged 16, he joined Melbourne’s National Theatre Ballet School.

After a guest stint with The Australian Ballet during the 2007 season of Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker, he officially joined the company in 2008 and was promoted to coryphée in 2011.

❏ Vote for Jarryd and you can win, too

The Telstra Ballet Dancer Award is the highest accolade of its kind available to an Australian dancer.

Last year Chengwu Guo become the first male dancer to win both the Ballet Dancer Award and the coveted People’s Choice Award.

Five previous award winners have ascended the ballet rankings to reach principal artist status.

Nominations were announced in Melbourne last week.

Introduced in 2003 to encourage young Australian ballet dancers to reach their full potential, the Ballet Dancer Award has catapulted some of The Australian Ballet’s brightest stars into the stratosphere.

This year’s nominees were chosen by The Australian Ballet’s artistic staff, previous winners of the award and principal artists.

The six dancers were judged on their performances throughout 2011, the ongoing development of their skills and their support of fellow company members.

The winner, announced near the end of 2012, will be decided by an industry panel – comprising of representatives from The Australian Ballet, Telstra and the media – and will receive a $20,000 cash prize from Telstra.

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