Nominations for the 2016 Steamtown Music Awards are now open through June 1
From a press release:
Nominations have opened for the 2016 Steamtown Music Awards. Members of the public can nominate their favorites for the 2016 local music award show online from now until Friday, July 1.
Shortly following the close of nominations on July 1, public voting will open for the People’s Choice Award, Best New Artist Award, and the awards that honor local music industry professionals.
“We’re excited to unveil our online voting process this year and believe everyone will find it more fair and enjoyable. The last few years, it has been a very basic and rudimentary process. This year, we’ve done our research and will have a much more secure and advanced system in place,” explains co-organizer Ken Norton.
An academy of local music industry professionals has been established to vote on all other awards. Entering the third year of the awards, organizers are again tweaking processes and procedures based on feedback received from the local music community.
Co-organizer Joe Caviston notes, “Our committee last year was comprised of amazing individuals, and many of them will return in 2016, but we also don’t ever want that pool to stagnate, so we’re infusing it with some new members and making sure that the panel is as unbiased and diverse as humanly possible. Many of judges will have no ties to Northeastern Pennsylvania at all.”
2016 musical categories include Best New Artist, Blues Act of the Year, Country Act of the Year, DJ 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 Act of the Year, Jazz Act of the Year, Metal Act of the Year, Pop/Top 40 Act of the Year, Punk/Hardcore Act of the Year, Rock/Alternative 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, Music Video of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.
2016 music industry awards include Local Recording Studio of the Year, Local Music Publication of the Year, Local Music Journalist of the Year, Local Radio Station of the Year, Local Radio DJ of the Year, Local Radio Station of the Year, and Local Radio DJ of the Year.
New to the 2016 awards will be the addition of Local Music Photographer of the Year and NEPA Live Music Venue of the Year awards, which will also be determined by online voting.
The event will again be held on a Thursday night to minimize conflicts with musician’s performance schedules. This year’s event will take place on Sept. 15 and serve as the opening ceremony for the 2016 Electric City Music Conference. The host venue, performances, and schedule for the 2015 award ceremony will be released in coming months.
To nominate your favorite band, read more about the committee, or view the rules for the SMAs, visit electriccitymusicconference.com.
Read more about the 2016 ECMC here.
