Music Victoria are excited to reveal the winners of the seven industry-voted awards handed out at last night’s first ever live-streamed Industry Awards event, along with the two 2020 Music Victoria Hall of Fame Inductees. The new format online event also marked the beginning of the voting period for this year’s public-voted categories with all nominees now revealed.

Industry stalwart Mary Mihelakos, and late blues musician Chris Wilson were revealed as the 2020 Hall of Fame inductees, with Chris’ family Sarah Carroll, Fenn Wilson and George Carroll Wilson honouring his induction with a special live performance of his track ‘Hand Becomes Fist'.

Last night also awarded a selection of winners for the year’s best venues, festival, producer and Outstanding Woman in Music. Music Victoria are thrilled to welcome Sarah Hamilton as the inaugural winner of the Outstanding Woman In Music Award for her incredible work with One of One alongside Joanna Cameron (Co-Founder) and Ellen Kirk (Director). One of One is a website that highlights women in the music industry and hosts a very special breakfast event on International Women's Day.  Joelistics (Joel Ma) was crowned the debut recipient of the new Best Producer category for his work on Mo’Ju & Joelistics Ghost Town EP. Joel will also receive a $1000 voucher from Award Sponsor Yamaha.

This year’s Best Festival winner, Golden Plains will receive three-years free subscription with festival management software Loadin.com. Regional Venue winners, Barwon Club Hotel, Geelong and Theatre Royal, Castlemaine will each receive a $3000 cash prize from Bendigo Bank, and the Best Small and Best Large Venue winners The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood and Forum Melbourne will each have the opportunity to rep their own bespoke line of branded Brick Lane tinnies!

All nominees for this year’s awards will each receive a $100 voucher courtesy of Yamaha & Billy Hyde Music to spend on all Yamaha products and their associated brands including Line 6, Ampeg, Steinberg, Vox, Vater and EarthQuaker Devices. Voters will also go in the draw to win some of these vouchers! Plus, the good folk at Brick Lane are offering all voters the chance to win a slab of beer just for naming your favourite artists, songs and albums of the year, so be sure to check out the list of nominees below and head to the Music Victoria website before Friday 6 November and vote!

All remaining categories will be awarded at the official 2020 Music Victoria Awards, taking place on Wednesday 9 December at the Melbourne Recital Centre for the 16th instalment.

INDUSTRY AWARDS – WINNERS AND NOMINEES
Best Small Venue (under 500 capacity)
Winner: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
Nominees:
Howler, Brunswick
Northcote Social Club, Northcote
The Tote, Collingwood
The Old Bar, Fitzroy
 
Best Large Venue (over 500 capacity)
Winner: Forum Melbourne
Nominees:
Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank
Corner Hotel, Richmond
The Night Cat, Fitzroy
Hamer Hall, Southbank
 
Best Festival
Winner: Golden Plains
Nominees:
Brunswick Music Festival
Isol-Aid
Melbourne Music Week
Queenscliff Music Festival
 
Best Regional/Outer Suburban Venue (Over 50 gigs per year)
Winner: Barwon Club Hotel – Geelong
Nominees:
The Bridge Hotel – Castlemaine 
The Eastern – Ballarat 
Torquay Hotel – Torquay 
Sooki Lounge – Belgrave
 
Best Regional/Outer Suburban Venue (Under 50 gigs per year)
Winner: *Theatre Royal – Castlemaine
Nominees:
The Blues Train – Queenscliff 
The Sound Doctor Presents – Anglesea
Volta – Ballarat
Daylesford Cider – Daylesford
 
Outstanding Woman In Music
Winner: Sarah Hamilton (One Of One)
Nominees:
Anna Laverty (Music Producer)
Charlotte Abroms (Support Act Fundraiser, Music Management)
Coco Eke (Bad Apples, Barpirdhila Foundation and Ngarrimili)
Emily Ulman (Isol-Aid, Brunswick Music Festival)
 
Best Producer
Winner: Joelistics: Mo’Ju & Joelistics Ghost Town EP
Nominees:
Annika Schmarsel aka Alice Ivy: Sunrise', 'Don't Sleep', 'Better Man' (singles)
Anna Laverty: Milk on Milk (Milk! Records compilation)
Damien Charles: Coda Chroma 'Inside The Still Life' (Album)
Tom Iansek: #1 Dads – Golden Repair (Album)

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
TO BE INDUCTED AT THE MUSIC VICTORIA AWARDS
Mary Mihelakos (industry)
Chris Wilson (musician)

INDUSTRY-VOTED AWARDS NOMINEES
WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT THE MUSIC VICTORIA AWARDS
 
Best Regional/Outer Suburban Act
Benny Walker (Echuca)
Bones and Jones (Geelong)
Freya Josephine Hollick (Ballarat)
The Kite Machine  (Geelong West)
The Teskey Brothers (Warrandyte)
 
Archie Roach Foundation Award for Emerging Talent
Alice Skye
Allara
Kee’ahn
The Merindas
River Boy
 
Best Blues Album
Aaron Pollock – Separated Through Time
Charlie Bedford – Good to Go
Joey Vincent’s Bakelite Radio – Rosary of Tears
*Lloyd Spiegel – Cut and Run
The Teskey Brothers – Live at The Forum
 
Best Country Album
The Cartwheels – Self-titled
Lost Ragas – This Is Not A Dream
Michael Waugh – The Weir
Mitch Dean – Holding Back the Levee
Tracy McNeil & The GoodLife – You Be The Lightning
 
Best Electronic Act
*DRMNGNOW
OK EG
Pugilist
Simona Castricum
Sleep D
 
Best Experimental or Avant-garde Act
Bridget Chappell
James Rushford
Maria Moles
Natasha Anderson
Robin Fox
 
Best Folk Album
Charm of Finches – Your Company
Fiona Ross & Shane O'Mara – Sunwise Turn
Liz Frencham – Love and Other Crimes
Louisa Wise – All of These Things
Ruth Hazleton – Daisywheel
 
Best Heavy Album
Carcinoid – Metastatic Declination
Dead – Raving Drooling
Diploid – Glorify
Internal Rot – Grieving Birth
Sithlord – From Out of the Darkness
 
Best Hip Hop Act
Birdz
DRMNGNOW
Jordan Dennis
Nomad
Sampa The Great
 
Best Intercultural Act
Amaru Tribe
Black Jesus Experience
Gelareh Pour's Garden
No Borders Music
Sampa The Great
 
Best Jazz Album
Andrea Keller – Life Is Brut[if]al
Horns of Leroy – Big Night
JK Group – The Young Ones
Vanessa Perica Orchestra – Love is a Temporary Madness
ZEDSIX – The Shape Of Jazz
 
Best Reggae and Dancehall Act
Dub FX
Jah Tung
Marvin Priest
Monkey Marc
The Push Reggae Band
 
Best Rock/Punk Album
Cable Ties – Far Enough
Nuada – Beneath the Swamp
Pseudo Mind Hive – Of Seers and Sirens
RVG – Feral
Shepparton Airplane – Sharks
 
Best Soul, Funk, Gospel or RnB Album
Karate Boogaloo – Carn The Boogers
Sampa The Great – The Return
Surprise Chef – All News Is Good News
The Teskey Brothers – Live at The Forum
Various Artists – Over Under Away Volume 1: 10 Years of Hopestreet Recordings

The Music Victoria Awards
Wednesday 9 December 2020
Melbourne Recital Centre
7.00pm
To be live-streamed on musicvictoria.com.au and broadcast on Channel 31

Voting for all public-voted categories NOW OPEN until Friday 6 November via musicvictoria.com.au/votenow

Music Victoria thanks Major Partners Bendigo Bank, City of Melbourne, Creative Victoria and Melbourne Recital Centre for their ongoing support of the Music Victoria Awards.

Spotify Playlists:
Industry-Voted Nominees Playlist here
Public-Voted Nominees Playlist here

FOLLOW THE MUSIC VICTORIA:
FACEBOOK
WEBSITE
YOUTUBE
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER