The Age Music Victoria Awards

The nominees for the publicly-voted The Age Music Victoria Awards 2013 have now been announced! The Drones lead the nominations, scoring three nominations for best album, best band and best live act, while a clutch of acts including Paul Kelly, Adalita, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Dick Diver and Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes each scored two nominations.

Two new regional awards for Best Regional Venue and Best Regional Act were introduced and Geelong, Castlemaine and Ballarat venues and acts were prominently represented with Gold Fields, Hunting Grounds, Yacht Club DJs, The Karova Lounge, The Barwon Club, Theatre Royal and The Bridge Hotel amongst the bands and venues receiving nominations. Nominees were chosen by a panel of over 20 music industry broadcasters, journalists, music associations, festival curators and record store owners.

Voting for these public awards is open until Friday 15th November, with the awards presented on 20th November. Special prizes will be handed out this year with the APRA Best Song winner to receive a $5000 cash prize, and the winner of the Best Emerging Artist award will be flown to Brisbane's BigSound Conference with full accommodation, where they will be playing a high-profile showcase slot.

Nominee for Best Album, Big Scary will open the awards show with a 30 minute set at Billboard the Venue on Wednesday 20th November. The best Australian soul singers including Daniel Merriweather, Dan Sultan, Kylie Auldist, Archie Roach, Nkechi Anele will join the EG Allstars in an Australian Soul Revue.

The Age Music Victoria Awards are the largest publicly voted awards in Australia with an average of 80,000 votes and the awards continue their long association with the musicians' charity Support Act Limited, donating $5 from each ticket to the organisation.

The music-loving public can have their say and vote for the best Victorian music for 2013 at theage.com.au/entertainment/agemusicvictoriaawards

Music Victoria CEO, Patrick Donovan, said "Music Victoria is thrilled to be in partnership with The Age to transform the Age EG Awards into The Age Music Victoria Awards in 2013. The only difference this year is that we are just celebrating Victorian music now - of all genres. It is still the people's awards - fans can vote for their favourite music of the year, and buy a ticket to the Billboard show to rub shoulders with their heroes, see them perform and cheer for them as they take home a trophy."

3RRR Station Manager, Dave Houchin, said "3RRR 102.7FM is very proud to be presenting The Age Music Victoria Awards in 2013. Music Victoria's involvement, the introduction of the genre awards, the Soul Revue format hosted by Triple R's own Chris Gill, and the induction of Renée Geyer into the Hall of Fame are exciting developments for 2013 and will create a fitting occasion to proudly celebrate Victoria's diverse music culture."