The APRA Music Awards in Australia celebrate excellence in contemporary music, honouring songwriters and publishers who have achieved artistic excellence and outstanding success in their fields.
Several award ceremonies are run in Australia by APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association / Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society). In addition to the APRA Music Awards, APRA AMCOS, in association with the Australian Music Centre, presents awards for classical music, jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art, known as the Art Music Awards. It also runs, in association with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), the Screen Music Awards, to acknowledge excellence in the field of screen composition.
APRA Music Awards (Australia) The APRA Music Awards were established in 1982 to honour songwriters and music composers for their efforts. The award categories are:
Gold Awards 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.
Year Songwriter(s) Artist Winning work Award 1982 Graeham Goble Little River Band "Reminiscing" Gold Award Graham Russell Air Supply "Lost in Love" Glenn Shorrock Little River Band "Cool Change" Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Bon Scott AC/DC "Highway To Hell" 1983 1984 Graham Russell Air Supply "The One That You Love" Special Award Colin Hay Men at Work "Who Can It Be Now?" Brian May Mad Max film score 1985 Colin Hay, Ron Strykert Men at Work "Down Under" John Antill "Corroboree" Graeham Goble Little River Band "The Other Guy" Reece Kirk Crystal Gayle "Our Love Is on the Faultline" 1986 Eric Bogle Eric Bogle "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" Gold Award 1987 Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Brian Johnson AC/DC "Back in Black" Mark Knopfler Dire Straits Brothers in Arms Gold Award (album) 1988 Jack O'Hagan "Along the Road to Gundagai" Platinum Award Gordon Parsons Slim Dusty "A Pub with no Beer" Rolf Harris Rolf Harris "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" Dorothy Dodd "Granada" Marie Cowan, Banjo Paterson "Waltzing Matilda" Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence INXS "What You Need" Gold Award Peter Best Crocodile Dundee film score 1989 John Antill "Corroboree" Platinum Award Harry Vanda & George Young In recognition of the outstanding popularity of their collective works throughout the world Neil Finn Crowded House "Don't Dream It's Over" Gold Award Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence INXS "Need You Tonight" Hal David In recognition of the outstanding popularity of his many works in Australia and New Zealand 1989–1990 Peter Garrett, Rob Hirst, James Moginie Midnight Oil "Beds Are Burning" 1990 Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence INXS "Devil Inside" "New Sensation"
Song of the Year 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. The Song of the Year award is considered one of the most prestigious of the APRA Music Awards.
Year Songwriter(s) Artist Song 1991 Bakamana Yunipingu, Stuart Kellaway, Gurrumul Yunipingu, Milkayggu Mununggurr, Cal Williams, Paul Kelly Yothu Yindi "Treaty" 1992 Rick Price, Heather Field Rick Price "Heaven Knows" 1993 Neil Finn and Tim FinnCrowded House "Four Seasons in One Day" 1994 Neil Finn "Distant Sun" 1995 Neil Murray Christine Anu "My Island Home" 1996 Tina Arena, Robert Parde, Heather Field Tina Arena "Wasn't It Good"1997 1998 Dean Manning Leonardo's Bride "Even When I'm Sleeping" 1999 James Roche Bachelor Girl "Buses and Trains" 2000 Jonathan Coghill, John Collins, Ian Haug, Darren Middleton, Bernard FanningPowderfinger "Passenger" 2001 Bernard Fanning "My Happiness" 2002 Alex Lloyd Alex Lloyd "Amazing" 2003 Kasey Chambers Kasey Chambers "Not Pretty Enough" 2004 John Butler John Butler Trio "Zebra" 2005 Missy Higgins and Kevin Griffin Missy Higgins "Scar" 2006 Ben Lee and McGowan Southworth Ben Lee "Catch My Disease" 2007 Glenn Richards Augie March "One Crowded Hour" 2008 Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton Silverchair "Straight Lines" 2009 Chris Cheney The Living End "White Noise" 2010 Dougy Mandagi and Lorenzo Sillitto The Temper Trap "Sweet Disposition" 2011 Angus Stone, Julia Stone Angus & Julia Stone "Big Jet Plane" 2012 Wally de Backer, Luiz Bonfa Gotye feat Kimbra "Somebody That I Used To Know" 2013 Kevin Parker Tame Impala "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" 2014 James Keogh Vance Joy "Riptide" 2015 Sia Furler, Jesse Shatkin Sia "Chandelier" 2016 Kevin Parker Tame Impala "Let It Happen" 2017 D.D Dumbo a.k.a. Oliver Perry D.D Dumbo "Satan" 2018 Paul Kelly, Billy Miller Paul Kelly "Firewood and Candles" 2019 Amy Billings Amy Shark"I Said Hi" 2020 Toni Watson Tones and I "Dance Monkey" 2021 Joel Davison, Rob Hirst, Bunna Lawrie Midnight Oil featuring Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs, Bunna Lawrie "Gadigal Land" 2022 The Kid Laroi, Justin Bieber, Isaac De Boni, Omer Fedi, Magnus Høiberg, Michael Mule, Charlie Puth, Subhaan Rahman, Blake Slatkin The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber "Stay" 2023 Harley Streten, Sarah Aarons Flume featuring May-a "Say Nothing"
Songwriter of the Year 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 and Tim Finn 1993 Greg Arnold 1994 Neil Finn 1995 Daniel Johns and Benjamin Gillies 1996 Nick Cave 1997 1998 Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones 1999 Paul Kelly 2000 Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones 2001 Ella Hooper and Jesse Hooper 2002 Kasey Chambers 2003 Daniel Johns 2004 Powderfinger 2005 Jet 2006 Bernard Fanning 2007 Andrew Stockdale, Myles Heskett and Chris Ross 2008 Daniel Johns 2009 Kim Moyes and Julian Hamilton 2010 Angus Young and Malcolm Young 2011 Angus Stone and Julia Stone 2012 Gotye 2013Sia 2014 2015 2016 Courtney Barnett 2017 Harley Streten 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 of Hilltop Hoods) 2021 Kevin Parker2024The Teskey Brothers, Josh Teskey and Sam Teskey
The Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music 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 after Ted Albert whose company Albert Productions put out records by The Easybeats, AC/DC and John Paul Young.
Year Winner 1991 Allan Hely 1992 John Sturman 1993 Peter Sculthorpe 1994 Ian Meldrum 1995 Harry Vanda and George Young 1996 Ron Tudor 1997 1998 Michael Gudinski 1999 Slim Dusty 2000 Triple J 2001 Charles Fischer 2002 Barry Chapman 2003 Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon 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 2021 Helen Reddy, Joy McKean 2022 The Wiggles 2023 Colin Hay, Colleen Ironside2024Bart Willoughby
Breakthrough Songwriter Award 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 and Andrew 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 ( 360), Kaelyn Behr ( 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 Howard The Kid Laroi 2022 Genesis Owusu 2023 Sampa Tembo Sampa The Great
Awards for Most Performed Works 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 (with AMC)
In 2001, APRA joined forces with the Australian 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 including Brenton Broadstock, Brett Dean, Ross Edwards, Georges Lentz, Liza Lim, Richard Mills, and Peter Sculthorpe. After another hiatus in 2010, the event returned as the Art Music Awards the following year, restructured and with two new categories.
The awards now cover classical, jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art, recognising achievement in composition, performance, education and presentation. , 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.
Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music Originally named Distinguished Services to Australian Music Award, from 2019 it was renamed in honour of Australian conductor and educator Richard Gill (1941–2018). 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 Winner2002Richard Meale2003Robert Hughes2004Miriam Hyde2005Anne Boyd2006Musica Viva Australia2007Belinda Webster2008Judy Bailey2009Michael Kieran Harvey 2010No Awards 2011 John HopkinsPatrick Thomas 2012 Peter Sculthorpe 2013 George Dreyfus 2014 Richard Gill 2015 Larry Sitsky 2016 Helen Gifford 2017 John Pochée 2018 Robyn Holmes 2019 The Necks 2020Ros Bandt 2021 Penny LomaxMaureen Cooney2022Nigel Butterley2023William Barton2024Lyn Williams2025Jon RoseHollis Taylor2026Liza Lim
Screen Music Awards (with AGSC)
The annual Screen Music Awards were first presented in 2002 by APRA and AMCOS in conjunction with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC). The ceremony, held in November, acknowledges excellence and innovation in the field of screen composition, and covers 13 categories.
2002 Awards International Achievement Award – David Hirschfelder Best Feature Film Score – Alan John for The Bank Best Soundtrack Album – Paul Kelly, Mairead Hannan, Kev Carmody, John Romeril, Deirdre Hannan and Alice Garner for One Night the Moon 2003 Awards International Achievement Award – Bruce Smeaton Best Feature Film Score – Nigel Westlake for The Nugget Best Soundtrack Album – Cezary Skubiszewski for After the Deluge 2004 Awards International Achievement Award – Lisa Gerrard Best Feature Film Score – Elizabeth Drake for Japanese Story Best Soundtrack Album – Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon and Richard Tognetti for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 2005 Awards International Achievement Award – Bruce Rowland