SCOTLAND’S national music prize, the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, today announces Stirling as the host city for its 2022 ceremony. Produced by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) and taking place at Stirling’s Albert Halls on Thursday 20th October, The SAY Award will welcome artists, industry professionals, press and music fans to the city for the most exciting night in Scotland’s musical calendar. The ceremony will mark the culmination of a four-month campaign celebrating Scottish music and the cultural impact of outstanding Scottish albums, with The SAY Award winner receiving a £20,000 first prize and walking away with the coveted title of Scottish Album of the Year.
To unveil Stirling as the new location for The SAY Award ceremony, an eye-catching projection was displayed onto one of the city’s most renowned landmarks, The National Wallace Monument. The location of The SAY Award Ceremony was unveiled with the lyrics of the iconic Scottish ballad ‘Caledonia’ by singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean, OBE who lived nearby in Dunblane for a period of time as a child and still feels a close connection with Stirling. Featuring the famous chorus “Let me tell you that I love you. That I think about you all the time”, the projection was displayed on the Monument overlooking the city and was visible for miles.
Built in the Victorian era and located in the centre of the city, the impressive Albert Halls venue has hosted a variety of shows since opening over 100 years ago. Following The SAY Award’s landmark 10th birthday celebration last year, music fans will once again have the chance to attend the ceremony when it makes its Stirling debut on Thursday 20th October. To purchase pre-sale tickets, visit www.sayaward.com.
Artists, music fans and labels can look forward to eligible album submissions for The SAY Award 2022 opening on Friday 1st July. From classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop, rock and trad, The SAY Award album submissions reflect the ever-changing and diversified Scottish music scene, demonstrating the strength and cultural impact of the country’s musical output. Once all eligible albums have been collated, 100 impartial ‘Nominators’, chosen from sectors including journalism, music retail and music venues across Scotland, nominate and rank their five favourite albums in order of preference. The SMIA assigns a score to each title in a Nominator’s Top 5, before announcing the 20 highest scoring albums as The SAY Award Longlist.
The Longlist will then be whittled down to a Shortlist of 10 albums, one of which will be chosen by music fans via a 72-hour online public vote. The remaining nine albums will be chosen by The SAY Award judging panel, who will then reconvene at the ceremony to decide on 2022’s winner.
This year will also see the return of the Modern Scottish Classic Award and The Sound of Young Scotland Award, both of which were introduced last year. Recognising an outstanding album from Scotland’s past that still inspires today, the artists making up 2022’s SAY Award Longlist will be tasked with choosing the winner of the Modern Scottish Classic Award, which last year was won by Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’. To support and drive Scottish music of the future, The Sound of Young Scotland Award also offers a young and emerging Scottish artist the chance to record their debut album. Having been won last year by Edinburgh-based LVRA, 2022’s winner will be chosen by a panel of previous SAY Award Nominees, and further details will be published in due course.
