| APRA Music Awards | |
|---|---|
| Current:APRA Music Awards of 2024 | |
| Country | Australia |
| Presented by | Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) |
| First award | 1982 |
| Website | apraamcos |
TheAPRA Music Awards in Australia celebrate excellence in contemporary music, honoring songwriters and publishers who have achieved artistic excellence and outstanding success in their fields.
Several award ceremonies are run in Australia by theAustralasian Performing Right Association (APRA) andAustralasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). In addition to the APRA Music Awards, APRA AMCOS, in association with theAustralian Music Centre, presents awards forclassical music,jazz andimprovised music,experimental music andsound art, known as theArt Music Awards. It also runs, in association with theAustralian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), theScreen Music Awards, to acknowledge excellence in the field ofscreen composition.
The APRA Music Awards were established in 1982 to honour songwriters and music composers for their efforts. The award categories are:
From 1982 to 1990, the best songs were given the Gold Award, which was also called the Special Award. In the mid-1980s Platinum Awards were given to significant works from previous years.[1]
Song of the Year is decided by the votes of APRA members. All eligible songs must be written by an APRA member and released in the preceding calendar year for consideration. TheSong of the Year award is considered one of the most prestigious of the APRA Music Awards.
Songwriter of the Year is voted by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors rewarding the songwriter who has recorded the most impressive body of work in the previous year.
| Year | Songwriter |
|---|---|
| 1991 | Phil Buckle |
| 1992 | Neil Finn andTim Finn |
| 1993 | Greg Arnold |
| 1994 | Neil Finn |
| 1995 | Daniel Johns andBenjamin Gillies |
| 1996 | Nick Cave |
| 1997 | No awards |
| 1998 | Darren Hayes andDaniel Jones |
| 1999 | Paul Kelly |
| 2000 | Darren Hayes andDaniel Jones |
| 2001 | Ella Hooper andJesse Hooper |
| 2002 | Kasey Chambers |
| 2003 | Daniel Johns |
| 2004 | Powderfinger |
| 2005 | Jet |
| 2006 | Bernard Fanning |
| 2007 | Andrew Stockdale,Myles Heskett andChris Ross |
| 2008 | Daniel Johns |
| 2009 | Kim Moyes andJulian Hamilton |
| 2010 | Angus Young andMalcolm Young |
| 2011 | Angus Stone andJulia Stone |
| 2012 | Gotye |
| 2013 | Sia |
| 2014 | |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | Courtney Barnett |
| 2017 | Harley Stretenp.k.a.Flume |
| 2018 | Adam Briggs p.k.a.Briggs and Daniel Rankine p.k.a.Trials |
| 2019 | Sarah Aarons |
| 2020 | Barry Francis p.k.a. DJ Debris, Matthew Lambert p.k.a.Suffa, Daniel Smith p.k.a.MC Pressure (members ofHilltop Hoods) |
| 2021 | Kevin Parker |
| 2024 | The Teskey Brothers, Josh Teskey and Sam Teskey |
The Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music' is decided by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors for a lifetime contribution. The Award is named afterTed Albert whose companyAlbert Productions put out records byThe Easybeats,AC/DC andJohn Paul Young.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 1991 | Allan Hely |
| 1992 | John Sturman |
| 1993 | Peter Sculthorpe |
| 1994 | Ian Meldrum |
| 1995 | Harry Vanda andGeorge Young |
| 1996 | Ron Tudor |
| 1997 | No awards |
| 1998 | Michael Gudinski |
| 1999 | Slim Dusty |
| 2000 | Triple J |
| 2001 | Charles Fischer |
| 2002 | Barry Chapman |
| 2003 | Angus Young,Malcolm Young andBon Scott |
| 2004 | Don Burrows |
| 2005 | Michael Chugg |
| 2006 | Bill Armstrong |
| 2007 | Michael McMartin |
| 2008 | Roger Davies |
| 2009 | Revoked |
| 2010 | Jimmy Little |
| 2011 | Paul Kelly |
| 2012 | Mary Lopez |
| 2013 | The Seekers |
| 2014 | Lindy Morrison |
| 2015 | Fifa Riccobono |
| 2016 | Cold Chisel |
| 2017 | Archie Roach |
| 2018 | Midnight Oil |
| 2019 | Rob Potts |
| 2020 | No awards |
| 2021 | Helen Reddy,Joy McKean |
| 2022 | The Wiggles |
| 2023 | Colin Hay, Colleen Ironside |
| 2024 | Bart Willoughby |
Breakthrough Songwriter Award is decided by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors for an emerging songwriter or groups of writers. The award category was first introduced by APRA in 2002.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Jennifer Waite and Grant Wallis (Aneiki) |
| Sia | |
| 2003 | Craig Nicholls (The Vines) |
| 2004 | Delta Goodrem |
| 2005 | Missy Higgins |
| 2006 | Myles Heskett,Christopher Ross andAndrew Stockdale (Wolfmother) |
| 2007 | Glenn Richards (Augie March) |
| 2008 | Sally Seltmann (New Buffalo) |
| 2009 | Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu |
| 2010 | Nick Littlemore, Jonathan Sloan,Luke Steele (Empire of the Sun) |
| 2011 | Megan Washington |
| 2012 | Killian Gavin, Jonathon Hart, Timothy Hart, David Hosking, Jacob Tarasenko (Boy & Bear) |
| 2013 | Matthew Colwell (p.k.a.360), Kaelyn Behr (p.k.a.Styalz) |
| 2014 | Louis Schoorl |
| 2015 | Michael Clifford,Luke Hemmings,Calum Hood,Ashton Irwin (5 Seconds of Summer) |
| 2016 | Alex Hope |
| 2017 | Troye Sivan a.k.a. Troye Sivan Mellet |
| 2018 | Sarah Aarons |
| 2019 | Dean Lewis |
| 2020 | Toni Watson p.k.a. Tones and I |
| 2021 | Charlton Howardp.k.a.the Kid Laroi |
| 2022 | Genesis Owusu |
| 2023 | Sampa Tembop.k.a.Sampa The Great |
There are a number of awards given for most performed work based on a statistical analysis of APRA's database. These awards include "Most Performed Australian Work of the Year", "Most Performed Australian Work Overseas", "Most Performed Foreign Work", "Most Performed Jazz Work", "Most Performed Country Work" and "Most Performed Dance Work".
| Art Music Awards[2] |
|---|
|
In 2001, APRA joined forces with theAustralian Music Centre (AMC) to present awards for Australian classical music, known as Classical Music Awards. The AMC had been presenting annual awards for classical music since 1988, apart from a 1993–1995 hiatus due to funding cuts. The participation of APRA helped to secure the future of the awards, which are the only Australian awards for contemporary Australian classical music. This award has been won by well-known composers includingBrenton Broadstock,Brett Dean,Ross Edwards,Georges Lentz,Liza Lim,Richard Mills, andPeter Sculthorpe. After another hiatus in 2010, the event returned as the Art Music Awards the following year, restructured and with two new categories.[3]
The awards now cover classical, jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art, recognising achievement in composition, performance, education and presentation. As of 2020[update],[4] the current award structure recognises eleven annual awards and Luminary Awards for sustained contribution (nationally and for each state and territory) in Australian art music. There is also a discretionary award, The Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music.[5]
Originally named The Distinguished Services to Australian Music Award,[6] from 2019 it was renamed in honour of Australian conductor and educatorRichard Gill (1941 – 2018).[7] It is determined by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors and the Australian Music Centre Board for a lifetime contribution to the art music community.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Richard Meale |
| 2003 | Robert Hughes |
| 2004 | Miriam Hyde |
| 2005 | Anne Boyd |
| 2006 | Musica Viva Australia |
| 2007 | Belinda Webster |
| 2008 | Judy Bailey |
| 2009 | Michael Kieran Harvey |
| 2010 | No Awards |
| 2011 | John Hopkins |
| 2012 | Peter Sculthorpe |
| 2013 | George Dreyfus |
| 2014 | Richard Gill |
| 2015 | Larry Sitsky |
| 2016 | Helen Gifford |
| 2017 | John Pochée |
| 2018 | Robyn Holmes |
| 2019 | The Necks |
| 2020 | Ros Bandt |
| 2021 | Penny Lomax Maureen Cooney |
| 2022 | Nigel Butterley |
| 2023 | William Barton[8] |
| 2024 | Lyn Williams[9] |
| Screen Music Awards |
|---|
|
The annual Screen Music Awards were first presented in 2002 by APRA and AMCOS in conjunction with theAustralian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC). The ceremony, held in November, acknowledges excellence and innovation in the field of screen composition, and as of 2019[update] covers 13 categories.[10]
The Emily Burrows Award was instituted in 2001 in memory of Emily Burrows, a former APRA AMCOS membership representative and compliance officer. It is awarded to aSouth Australian artist or band annually with a $5,000 prize, to further their development and career.Electric Fields won it in 2016, with previous winners includingHilltop Hoods andThe Beards,[12] Dead Roo, and Ollie English[13]
In 2019 the prize was awarded at theSouth Australian Music Awards (SAM Awards) for the first time, with Dead Roo winning the Award.[14]Seabass were presented with the award at the SAM Awards in 2020,[15] andTilly Tjala Thomas won it in 2021.[16] Thomas sings in bothNukunu language and English, with her single "Ngana Nyunyi" sung in both. She wontriple j Unearthed's NIMAs competition, giving her the opportunity to play at theNational Indigenous Music Awards in 2021.[13]
In 2023, Indigenous hip hop band from theAPY lands,DEM MOB, won the award.[17]
As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations in 2001, APRA created a list of thetop 30 Australian songs.[18] A panel of 100 music personalities were asked to list the ten best Australian songs, the data was compiled and the Top Ten in numerical order, was announced at the 2001 APRA Music Awards ceremony.[18] At the ceremonyYou Am I performed the #1 listed song "Friday on My Mind" withRoss Wilson performing the #2 listed song "Eagle Rock".[18] The next 20 songs in the Top 30 had been announced four weeks earlier.[19]