ABOUT NI MUSIC PRIZE

SUBMISSIONS FOR 2026 - OPEN MONDAY 21ST JULY - MONDAY 3RD AUGUST

Submission forms will go live on 21st July

( for releases/performances between 1st July 2025 - 30th June 2026)

Please carefully read the Criteria section before making your submission.

WHO ARE THE PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE PRIZE?

Album of The Year: Cashier No 9, Foy Vance, Robyn G Shiels, Soak, Ciaran Lavery, Joshua Burnside, Ryan Vail & Elma Orkestra, The Wood Burning Savages, Kitt Philippa, Saint Sister, Robocobra Quartet, Arborist, Problem Patterns and RÓIS in 2025

Single of The Year: Two Door Cinema Club, Kitt Philippa, Junk Drawer, Arborist, Dea Matrona, Ferna, Moonboot, JC Stewart and California Irish in 2025.

BBC Radio Ulster ATL Introducing Artist of the Year: ROE, Cherym, Sasha Samara, Dea Matrona, The Florentinas, Tramp, Esmeralda Road and Huartan in 2025.

Live Act of The Year: The Wood Burning Savages, Sister Ghost, New Pagans, Junk Drawer, Chalk, Huartan and RÓIS in 2025.

Video of The Year: Junk Drawer 2022, Problem Patterns 2023 and Jordan Adetunji in 2024.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER MY ENTRY IS SUBMITTED FOR CONSIDERATION?

Once the full list of submissions has been assessed by the NI Music Prize team for eligibility, the list of Singles and Albums will be released publicly as the Eligible List. This will be the full list of eligible releases that were entered via the submission process or gathered by our team through research.

WHAT COMES AFTER THE ELIGIBLE LIST?

Once all eligible albums and singles have been assessed and collated, a ‘Nominator Academy’ chosen from sectors including music journalism (print and online), radio broadcasters and shows, podcasts, bloggers, programmers, music retail, promoters, live music venues, as well as key influencers from elsewhere in the arts, will be invited to consider the titles from NI Music Prize eligible albums/singles list and to then nominate five albums and three singles each from the list.

For all categories where scores are a tie or very close ( 2- 4 marks between them at cut off point), we also consider factors such as release campaigns, press coverage, live moments and streaming impact, as well as considering representation across genres.

Eligible singles will be further assessed along the following lines:

Assessment includes using and collating streaming numbers to arrive at a total for each track. Other filters including radio play and media coverage, play listings, or 'appears on' will also be collated to support entries. Streaming numbers will be weighted to account for length of time of the track's release period. 

If you are a local music fan, blogger, music journalist or radio DJ and would like to join the Nominator Academy get in touch for more details. Criteria does apply and no direct link to nominated artists ( such as a band member, manager or family member) will be permitted to take part in the academy. If for exceptional reasons an industry nominator ( such as they are also a radio dj or music journalist with a broad range of experience of local music ) with a conflict does take part they are not allowed to vote for themselves/ their artist/band/family member as part of this process.

Live act nominations will be combined with academy nominations who will return a long list of 10 before going to a panel for decision.

When the first stage of nominations are in:

The 30 highest scoring singles will make the Long List and will be published on the NI Music Prize website.

The 30 highest scoring albums will make the Long List and will be published on the NI Music Prize website.

The 15 highest scoring live acts will make the Long List and will be published on the NI Music Prize website.

There will be a public vote when the Long List is announced - the public will have a chance to vote for one album, one single and one live act to be added to the final shortlist. The public will have one week to vote. Details will be released when the confirmed Long List is published.

AND AFTER THAT?

A second round of votes by the Nominator Academy from the long list will then return the SHORTLIST, and when the public votes have also been counted one album, one single and one live act will be added to this shortlist which features:

• The twelve albums (one decided through public vote, 11 via our academy) with the highest score/nominations from the long-list become the ‘shortlist’.

• The six singles (one decided through a public vote, 5 via our academy) with the highest score/most nominations from the long list becomes the ‘shortlist’.

• The four Live Acts (one decided through a public vote, 3 via panel) with the highest score/most nominations from the long list becomes the ‘shortlist’.

  These lists will then be considered for the overall prize in the Single, Album and Live Act of the Year categories.
  

  
  WHEN THE SHORTLISTS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED?
  

The Single of The Year Shortlist will go out to a public vote to decide a winner.

Live Act winner will be selected by industry panel and announced on the night of the awards.

Album of The Year winner will be decided by an industry panel on the night of the awards.

PRS Creator award will be decided by the Academy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Prize shortlist is voted on by the nominators and academy based on their own tastes and determinations. They pick their selections based on their individual criteria for album/single/live of the year, following the guidelines/criteria we have provided them with, noted above. We ask them to rank their selections in order of preference. We then allocate a score to each ranking position and add up all the scores to reach our list of shortlisted artists. Where scores are a tie or very close, we also consider factors such as release campaigns, press and streaming impact, and representation across genres. This ensures a fair and balanced outcome. We invite a broad section of voices and champions of different kinds of music from the list noted above.

The NI Music Prize is coordinated by the Oh Yeah Music Centre. Neither staff nor board members take part in the nomination process. Oh Yeah do assess votes and make final decisions following a process of scoring, verifying, cross checking and impact assessment when results are close or a tie.

The announcements and publications by the NI Music Prize and Oh Yeah Music Centre of the list of artists, which have been shortlisted, and then of winners on the night of the Prize, are final.


Any queries can be sent to info@nimusicprize.com