Aldous Harding, Tiny Ruins, Alien Weaponry and Anika Moa are among the 20 finalists for New Zealand’s most coveted songwriting award, the Silver Scroll.
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Widely considered the most prestigious accolade in New Zealand music, the APRA Silver Scroll Award recognises outstanding achievement in the craft of songwriting.
Past winners include Lorde, Marlon Williams, Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga and Neil Finn.
The top 20 songs for 2019 are:
- Aldous Harding ‘The Barrel’ (written by Hannah Topp)
- Alien Weaponry ‘Ahi Kā’ (written by Lewis de Jong, Henry de Jong, and Ethan Trembath)
- Anika Moa ‘Buttercup’ (written by Anika Moa)
- Anthonie Tonnon ‘Old Images’ (written and performed by Anthonie Tonnon)
- Avantdale Bowling Club ‘Years Gone By’ (written by Tom Scott, Hayden Dick, Julien Dyne, Guy Harrison, and Tom Dennison)
- Benee ‘Soaked’ (written by Stella Bennett, Josh Fountain, and Djeisan Suskov)
- The Beths ‘Happy Unhappy’ (written by Elizabeth Stokes)
- Broods ‘Dust’ (written by Caleb Nott, Georgia Nott, and Thomas Schleiter)
- CHAII ‘Digebasse (Enough)’ (written by CHAII, Richard Bryan, and Frank Eliesa)
- Church & AP ‘Ready Or Not’ (written by Elijah Manu, Albert Purcell, Carey Bentley, and Izak Kennedy)
- Foley ‘Can’t Help The Way’ (written by Gabriel Everett, Ashleigh Wallace, Giorgio Scott, Josh Fountain)
- Ha The Unclear ‘Where Were You When I Was All You Needed’ (written by Michael Cathro)
- Ladi6 ‘Diagonals’ (written by Karoline Tamati, Brent Park, Brandon Haru, Julien Dyne)
- Lydia Cole ‘The Sacred’ (written and performed by Lydia Cole)
- Mel Parsons ‘Just ‘Cause You Don’t Want Me’ (written and performed by Mel Parsons)
- Miloux ‘Enough’ written by Rebecca Mason Melrose, Harry Huavi, and Frank Edward Eliesa)
- Mousey ‘Extreme Highs’ (written by Sarena Close, and Ryan Chin)
- SORRENTO ‘Look Up’ (written by Marika Hodgson and Troy Kingi)
- SWIDT ‘No Emotions In The Wild’ (written by Daniel Latu, Amon McGoram, and Isaiah Libeau)
- Tiny Ruins ‘Olympic Girls’ (written by Hollie Fullbrook)
The Top 20 list was chosen from over 200 entries by a judging panel of nine New Zealand songwriters including Amanda Cheng (Wax Chattels), Anna Coddington, Chris Mac (Six60), Godfrey de Grut, Jordan Arts (Leisure/High Hoops), Mark Williams (Slave, Fat Freddy’s Drop), Nick Atkinson (Supergroove/Hopetoun Brown), Ria Hall, and Tyra Hammond (Opensouls/Tyra and the Tornadoes).
The overall winner will be chosen by APRA’s 10,000 New Zealand members, who’ll vote for their top five songs from this list of 20.
The top five songs will be announced at the end of August (date TBC), and the winner will be announced at a ceremony at Auckland's Spark Arena on Wednesday, 2nd October.
Other awards presented on the night are:
- APRA Maioha Award, celebrating exceptional waiata featuring te reo Māori
- SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in classical composition
- APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award
- APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award
As a part of the celebrations, APRA will also be inducting a songwriter/s into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
