The The 16th annual Choice Music Prize has announced the shortlist for the Irish Album of the Year 2020 today on air on RTÉ 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show by Jim Carroll, chairman of the judging panel.
The 10 shortlisted albums are, in alphabetical order are:
Bitch Falcon – Staring at Clocks (Small Pond Recordings)
Denise Chaila – Go Bravely (narolane)
Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death (Partisan Records)
JyellowL – 2020 DIvision (JyellowL Records)
Róisín Murphy – Róisín Machine (Loaded Records)
Nealo – All The Leaves Are Falling (2020 Nealo)
Pillow Queens – In Waiting (Pillow Queens Records)
Ailbhe Reddy – Personal History (Friends of the Family)
Niamh Regan – Hemet (The Black Gate Label)
Silverbacks – Fad (Central Tones)
7 of the my top 10 Irish albums from 2020 are on the list with all 10 in my top 20.
The winning act will receive €10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). All shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award.
This year’s judges are:
Trishauna Archer (Beat FM)
Pamela Blake (Today FM)
Pavel Barter (Sunday Times)
Gemma Bradley (BBC Radio One Introducing/BBC Radio Ulster Across the Line)
Lisa Connell (GCN)
Tracy Clifford (RTÉ 2FM)
Lauren Murphy (Freelance journalist)
Derek O’Connor (RTÉ Culture)
Claire Regan (LMFM/Virgin Media)
Louise Tighe (FM104)
Ray Wingnut (Spin Southwest)
Due to a pandemic time, the ceremony for this year’s Choice will not take place in Vicar Street in Dublin like previous years. Instead, the ceremony including live performances will take place online from the RTÉ studios on Thursday 4th March 2021, which will be broadcast on RTÉ Player and RTÉ 2FM from 12-3pm on the day.
A special RTÉ Choice Music Prize highlights programme will be broadcast on RTÉ2 television the following week.
All day today, RTÉ 2FM are playing Irish music on repeat from 6am to midnight.
RTÉ Choice Music Prize will once again celebrate the best in Irish recorded music. The Prize has become one of the music-industry highlights of the year since its inception in 2005. The Irish Album of the Year award is chosen from a shortlist of ten albums by a panel of eleven Irish music media professionals and industry experts. The full list of judges is listed on http://www.choicemusicprize.ie
RAAP and Minding Creative Minds are also official project partners of the RTE Choice Music Prize as are Culture Ireland and First Music Contact (FMC). Through its funding of FMC’s Music From Ireland programme, Culture Ireland support of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize will be directed towards participant artists, as well as assisting the online RTÉ Choice Music Prize “Conversations”.
