This year’s Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is now inviting entries. Open to all genres, the prize is awarded to the best Scottish album released between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018. Artists, labels and music fans have the month of May to submit their favourites to the SAY Award website for consideration.
Since its inauguration in 2012, the SAY Award has grown to become Scotland’s most popular and prestigious music prize. Previous winners include Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat for Everything’s Getting Older in 2012, Anna Meredith’s Varmints in 2016, and last year’s winner, Sacred Paws’ debut album Strike A Match.
The prize was developed by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) with support from Creative Scotland, and offers one of the UK’s most lucrative prize funds as a way to champion the strength and diversity of Scotland’s musical landscape.
Once all eligible albums have been collated, 100 “nominators” from the fields of journalism, broadcast and radio, music retail and venues that host live music, will consider the titles, nominating their five favourites and ranking them in order of preference. The 20 highest scoring albums will form the longlist, which will be whittled down to a shortlist of 10, one of which will be chosen by music fans via an online public vote and the others decided by the SAY Award judging panel.
The deadline for submissions is a minute to midnight on Thursday 31 May and the winner, who will also pick up a £20,000 cash prize, will be announced at Paisley Town Hall on Thu 6 Sep.
“The impact of The SAY Award is indisputable,” said Robert Kilpatrick, General Manager at Scottish Music Industry Association. “It has illuminated Scotland’s music scene with the ambition, credibility and commitment it so richly deserves. We’re delighted to be returning to Paisley Town Hall for this year’s ceremony, the third year of a fantastic partnership with Renfrewshire Council.”
Renfrewshire Council is one of several partners for this year’s awards, alongside Paisley.is, Creative Scotland, TicketWeb, PPL and Help Musicians Scotland.
To submit an album, please visit www.sayaward.com for eligibility criteria, guidelines and more information.