Nominations are now open for the 2015 Steamtown Music Awards
From a press release:
Nominations are now open for the 2015 Steamtown Music Awards, held in conjunction with the Electric City Music Conference. Members of the public can nominate their favorite artists for the 2015 local music award show from now until July 1.
As of July 1, nominations will close. The public will then be able to vote for three “People’s Choice Awards,” and an academy of local music industry professionals will vote on the remainder of the awards.
Organizers took feedback from last year’s awards seriously and have added and modified many categories to reflect the suggestions of both fans and nominees.
Artist categories include:
- Acoustic Act of the Year
- Best New Artist
- Country Act of the Year
- DJ (Disc Jockey) of the Year
- Duo of the Year
- Electronic Act of the Year
- Folk/Americana Act of the Year
- Hip Hop/Urban Act of the Year
- Indie Rock Act of the Year
- Jam/Reggae/Funk Act of the Year
- Jazz/Big Band/Swing Act of the Year
- Metal Act of the Year
- Pop/Pop Rock/Top 40 Act of the Year
- Punk/Hardcore Act of the Year
- Rock/Alternative Rock Act of the Year
- Tribute/Cover Band of the Year
- Male Vocalist of the Year
- Female Vocalist of the Year
- Guitarist of the Year
- Bassist of the Year
- Drummer of the Year
- Album of the Year
- Song of the Year
New to the awards this year is the addition of awards that honor local music industry professionals.
“We’re extremely excited to be able to honor and include local music industry professionals. We love musicians, but there are so many great people behind the scenes as well. We believe they deserve recognition as well,” explained organizer Joe Caviston.
Industry professional categories include:
- Recording Studio of the Year
- Producer/Engineer of the Year
- Radio Station of the Year
- Radio Personality/Radio DJ of the Year
- Publication/Blog of the Year
- Music Journalist of the Year
The 2015 SMA Voting Committee is as follows: Vinnie Archer, Justin Adam Brown, Carl Canedy, Joe Caviston, Mike Duffy, Jesse Faatz, Jack Gretz, Frank Hershberger, Rich Howells, Zhach Kelsch, Melissa Krahnke, Vincent LoRusso, Tom LeFevre, Michael Lello, Tom Moran, Jimmy McGrath, Joe Nardone Jr., John Nasser, Keith Perks, Ken Norton, Kathleen Riley, Jenn Sekelsky, Randy Shemanski, Alan K. Stout, Thomas Tell Jr., Justin Harry Troutman, and Cory Wolff.
If a member of the committee should happen to be nominated for an award, they will be unable to vote for that category.
One of the biggest requests was to host the award ceremony on a Thursday night, so this year, the event will be held on Thursday, Sept. 10. The organizers hope that moving the ceremony to a Thursday will allow all nominees and fans to attend the venue without conflicting with their normal performance schedules. The host venue, performances, and schedule for the 2015 award ceremony will be released in the coming months.
To nominate your favorite band, read more about the committee, or view the rules for the SMAs, visit electriccitymusicconference.com/nominations.
Bands can currently apply to play the Electric City Music Conference through SonicBids. For more information, read this earlier post.
To watch a photo sideshow from last year’s conference and awards ceremony, click here. For a list of 2014’s Steamtown Music Award winners, click here.
