The Vicksburg-based Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation and local artist H.C. Porter are among this year’s nominees for a state arts honor previously received by actor Morgan Freeman and authors John Grisham and Eudora Welty.

A panel of judges selected by the Mississippi Arts Commission will announce the five winners of the 2011 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts at a Feb. 24 ceremony. In addition to the SCHF and Porter, 44 “artists, arts patrons and arts organizations from across the state” have been nominated for the award, said a news release from the MAC.

For the first time, the MAC also is conducting an online straw poll to determine favorites for the awards. Voters have until Friday to pick a top five by logging on to www.surveymonkey.com/s/NC37XFB.

Malcolm White, executive director of the MAC, said the poll won’t bind the judges who eventually select the winner.

“It’s just a way for us to see whether who’s winning the awards matches up with who the public thinks should win them,” he said. “It will be interesting for us to see.”

Porter, who owns an art gallery at 1216 Washington St., is perhaps best known for “Backyards & Beyond: Mississippians and Their Stories,” a project that portrays Mississippians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her 80 mixed-media works incorporate photography, printmaking and painting.

“She has a distinctive style of taking photographs and manipulating them,” White said. “She’s a very innovative and creative visual artist who has always been commercially successful.”

Porter attributes her success to her subjects.

“I think that a lot of this is probably based on ‘Backyards & Beyond,’ and I’m appreciative of that,” Porter said. “All of this work, of course, would not be possible without the total cooperation and generosity of the people of the Gulf Coast, who allowed me to just walk up to them with a camera in their darkest hour.”

The SCHF has owned the former St. Francis Xavier Academy and Convent since 2001 and offers cultural and artistic programs at the complex, called the Southern Cultural Heritage Center.

“It’s what we call an address for the arts,” White said.

“We’re thrilled about” being nominated for the award, said executive director Annette Kirklin. “It means that we’re appreciated.”