Scottish Album of the Year Award launches for 2024

Scotland’s national music prize, The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, has launched for 2024.

Returning to Stirling’s Albert Halls for the third year running, The SAY Award will celebrate the cultural impact and contribution of outstanding Scottish albums, with the winning record awarded a £20,000 prize and the title of Scottish Album of the Year. 

The ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 24. Early-bird tickets for 2024’s SAY Award Ceremony are on sale now. 

2023’s edition saw history made as Young Fathers became the first artist to win The SAY Award for the third time. The band recently headlined their own festival in Stirling City Park. 

In The SAY Award’s 13th year, artists, music fans, labels and more will be encouraged to submit eligible albums for free, to be in with the chance of winning. 

To be considered for 2024’s award, eligible albums must have been released between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024. To submit albums, plus view eligibility criteria and guidelines for 2024’s award, visit www.sayaward.com by July 31. 

Previous SAY Award winners include Young Fathers, Kathryn Joseph, Mogwai, Anna Meredith and more.

The Snuts, Teenage Fanclub, Becky Sikasa, Erland Cooper, Rachel Sermanni and The Jesus and Mary Chain are among the Scottish acts whose recent releases are eligible this year. 

Since its inception in 2012, The SAY Award has distributed over £350,000 in prize money to Scottish artists, recognising outstanding albums  across multiple genres. 

The SAY Award winner will receive the £20,000 prize and the prestigious title of Scottish Album of the Year, while nine runners up will each receive £1,000, as well as bespoke prizes created by a Stirling-based artist through The SAY Award Design Commission. 

Accompanying the main album of the year prize, the Modern Scottish Classic Award will recognise an iconic album that still inspires Scottish musicians. The Sound of Young Scotland Award – supported by Help Musicians, the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative through Creative Scotland and Youth Music – will recognise a young and emerging artist, providing them with a funding package to support the creation of their debut album. 

2023’s Modern Scottish Classic winner was Paolo Nutini’s These Streets, with Edinburgh-based duo No Windows collecting The Sound of Young Scotland Award. 

The SAY Award will form part of a year-long celebration of Stirling’s 900th anniversary, as the city becomes a hub of live events including the recent Stirling Summer Sessions, a Twin Atlantic show, the inaugural Interesting Things music festival, performances from former SAY nominee Becky Sikasa, as well as performances by artists such as Horse, Turin Brakes, Hue and Cry, Huey Morgan from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals and more.

We look forward to immersing ourselves in this year’s eligible albums

Robert Kilpatrick

Robert Kilpatrick, CEO and creative director of the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), said: “Scottish music is the soundtrack and stories of our lives. As we commence our 13th year delivering Scotland’s national music prize, the SMIA remains firmly committed to celebrating and championing music as an invaluable expression of our cultural identity; amplifying its diverse narratives to enrich society and drive audience development.

“The last few years have been difficult for the cultural sector, with soaring costs, strains on public funding and economic pressures across the board. Thanks to the support of our partners, today marks the start of a four-month celebration of Scotland’s word-class recorded output. We look forward to immersing ourselves in this year’s eligible albums, and to returning to Stirling’s Albert Halls on Thursday, October 24 for 2024’s SAY Award Ceremony. It will undoubtedly be another incredible night to remember, and I hope many of you can join us.”

Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Chris Kane, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be welcoming The Scottish Album of the Year Award ceremony back to Stirling for the third consecutive year as the city marks its 900th anniversary.

“Following the success of the events held in 2022 and 2023 at our beautiful Albert Halls venue, we can’t wait to welcome back artists and visitors to celebrate the very best in new Scottish music and showcase everything Stirling has to offer. 

“Fresh from the success of Stirling Summer Sessions festival and Twin Atlantic selling out the Tolbooth Stirling in a matter of minutes last week, Stirling continues to show it’s a top-class events location with a vibrant music and creative scene in its 900th year.”

Once all eligible albums have been collated for The SAY Award, 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, before judges then choose the winning album, exclusively announced at 2024’s ceremony. 

The SAY Award’s charity partner is Scotland’s national children’s and young people’s mental health charity, Tiny Changes, set up in memory of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison to help young minds feel better. 

The SAY Award is a Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) production. The SAY Award 2024 is delivered in partnership with Creative Scotland, Stirling Council, Stirling Alive with Culture, Seabass Vinyl, Ticketmaster, Help Musicians, HMV, FOPP, PPL, the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative, Youth Music and Music Declares Emergency. 

PHOTO: Cameron Brisbane