APRA Awards (Australia)
The APRA Music Awards in Australia celebrate excellence in contemporary music, honoring songwriters and publishers who have achieved artistic excellence and outstanding success in their fields.
Several award ceremonies are run in Australia by the Australasian [Performing Right Association] and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society. In addition to the APRA Music Awards, APRA AMCOS, in association with the Australian Music Centre, presents awards for classical music, jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art, known as the Art Music Awards. It also runs, in association with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, the Screen Music Awards, to acknowledge excellence in the field of screen composition.
APRA Music Awards (Australia)
The APRA Music Awards were established in 1982 to honour songwriters and music composers for their efforts. The award categories are:Gold Awards
From 1982 to 1990, the best songs were given the Gold Award, which was also called the Special Award. In the mid-1980s Platinum Awards were given to significant works from previous years.Song of the Year
Song of the Year is decided by the votes of APRA members. All eligible songs must be written by an APRA member and released in the preceding calendar year for consideration. The Song of the Year award is considered one of the most prestigious of the APRA Music Awards.Songwriter of the Year
Songwriter of the Year is voted by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors rewarding the songwriter who has recorded the most impressive body of work in the previous year.| Year | Songwriter |
| 1991 | Phil Buckle |
| 1992 | Neil Finn and Tim Finn |
| 1993 | Greg Arnold |
| 1994 | Neil Finn |
| 1995 | Daniel Johns and Benjamin Gillies |
| 1996 | Nick Cave |
| 1997 | |
| 1998 | Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones |
| 1999 | Paul Kelly |
| 2000 | Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones |
| 2001 | Ella Hooper and Jesse Hooper |
| 2002 | Kasey Chambers |
| 2003 | Daniel Johns |
| 2004 | Powderfinger |
| 2005 | Jet |
| 2006 | Bernard Fanning |
| 2007 | Andrew Stockdale, Myles Heskett and Chris Ross |
| 2008 | Daniel Johns |
| 2009 | Kim Moyes and Julian Hamilton |
| 2010 | Angus Young and Malcolm Young |
| 2011 | Angus Stone and Julia Stone |
| 2012 | Gotye |
| 2013 | Sia |
| 2014 | Sia |
| 2015 | Sia |
| 2016 | Courtney Barnett |
| 2017 | Harley Streten Flume |
| 2018 | Adam Briggs p.k.a. Briggs and Daniel Rankine p.k.a. Trials |
| 2019 | Sarah Aarons |
| 2020 | Barry Francis p.k.a. DJ Debris, Matthew Lambert p.k.a. Suffa, Daniel Smith p.k.a. MC Pressure |
| 2021 | Kevin Parker |
| 2024 | The Teskey Brothers, Josh Teskey and Sam Teskey |
The Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music
The Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music' is decided by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors for a lifetime contribution. The Award is named after Ted Albert whose company Albert Productions put out records by The Easybeats, AC/DC and John Paul Young.| Year | Winner |
| 1991 | Allan Hely |
| 1992 | John Sturman |
| 1993 | Peter Sculthorpe |
| 1994 | Ian Meldrum |
| 1995 | Harry Vanda and George Young |
| 1996 | Ron Tudor |
| 1997 | |
| 1998 | Michael Gudinski |
| 1999 | Slim Dusty |
| 2000 | Triple J |
| 2001 | Charles Fischer |
| 2002 | Barry Chapman |
| 2003 | Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott |
| 2004 | Don Burrows |
| 2005 | Michael Chugg |
| 2006 | Bill Armstrong |
| 2007 | Michael McMartin |
| 2008 | Roger Davies |
| 2009 | Revoked |
| 2010 | Jimmy Little |
| 2011 | Paul Kelly |
| 2012 | Mary Lopez |
| 2013 | The Seekers |
| 2014 | Lindy Morrison |
| 2015 | Fifa Riccobono |
| 2016 | Cold Chisel |
| 2017 | Archie Roach |
| 2018 | Midnight Oil |
| 2019 | Rob Potts |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | Helen Reddy, Joy McKean |
| 2022 | The Wiggles |
| 2023 | Colin Hay, Colleen Ironside |
| 2024 | Bart Willoughby |
Breakthrough Songwriter Award
Breakthrough Songwriter Award is decided by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors for an emerging songwriter or groups of writers. The award category was first introduced by APRA in 2002.| Year | Winner |
| 2002 | Jennifer Waite and Grant Wallis |
| 2002 | Sia |
| 2003 | Craig Nicholls |
| 2004 | Delta Goodrem |
| 2005 | Missy Higgins |
| 2006 | Myles Heskett, Christopher Ross and Andrew Stockdale |
| 2007 | Glenn Richards |
| 2008 | Sally Seltmann |
| 2009 | Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu |
| 2010 | Nick Littlemore, Jonathan Sloan, Luke Steele |
| 2011 | Megan Washington |
| 2012 | Killian Gavin, Jonathon Hart, Timothy Hart, David Hosking, Jacob Tarasenko |
| 2013 | Matthew Colwell, Kaelyn Behr |
| 2014 | Louis Schoorl |
| 2015 | Michael Clifford, Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin |
| 2016 | Alex Hope |
| 2017 | Troye Sivan a.k.a. Troye Sivan Mellet |
| 2018 | Sarah Aarons |
| 2019 | Dean Lewis |
| 2020 | Toni Watson p.k.a. Tones and I |
| 2021 | Charlton Howard the Kid Laroi |
| 2022 | Genesis Owusu |
| 2023 | Sampa Tembo Sampa The Great |
Awards for Most Performed Works
There are a number of awards given for most performed work based on a statistical analysis of APRA's database. These awards include "Most Performed Australian Work of the Year", "Most Performed Australian Work Overseas", "Most Performed Foreign Work", "Most Performed Jazz Work", "Most Performed Country Work" and "Most Performed Dance Work".Art Music Awards (with AMC)
In 2001, APRA joined forces with the Australian Music Centre to present awards for Australian classical music, known as Classical Music Awards. The AMC had been presenting annual awards for classical music since 1988, apart from a 1993–1995 hiatus due to funding cuts. The participation of APRA helped to secure the future of the awards, which are the only Australian awards for contemporary Australian classical music. This award has been won by well-known composers including Brenton Broadstock, Brett Dean, Ross Edwards, Georges Lentz, Liza Lim, Richard Mills, and Peter Sculthorpe. After another hiatus in 2010, the event returned as the Art Music Awards the following year, restructured and with two new categories.The awards now cover classical, jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art, recognising achievement in composition, performance, education and presentation., the current award structure recognises eleven annual awards and Luminary Awards for sustained contribution in Australian art music. There is also a discretionary award, The Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music.
Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music
Originally named The Distinguished Services to Australian Music Award, from 2019 it was renamed in honour of Australian conductor and educator Richard Gill. It is determined by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors and the Australian Music Centre Board for a lifetime contribution to the art music community.| Year | Winner |
| 2002 | Richard Meale |
| 2003 | Robert Hughes |
| 2004 | Miriam Hyde |
| 2005 | Anne Boyd |
| 2006 | Musica Viva Australia |
| 2007 | Belinda Webster |
| 2008 | Judy Bailey |
| 2009 | Michael Kieran Harvey |
| 2010 | No Awards |
| 2011 | John Hopkins Patrick Thomas |
| 2012 | Peter Sculthorpe |
| 2013 | George Dreyfus |
| 2014 | Richard Gill |
| 2015 | Larry Sitsky |
| 2016 | Helen Gifford |
| 2017 | John Pochée |
| 2018 | Robyn Holmes |
| 2019 | The Necks |
| 2020 | Ros Bandt |
| 2021 | Penny Lomax Maureen Cooney |
| 2022 | Nigel Butterley |
| 2023 | William Barton |
| 2024 | Lyn Williams |
Screen Music Awards (with AGSC)
The annual Screen Music Awards were first presented in 2002 by APRA and AMCOS in conjunction with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers. The ceremony, held in November, acknowledges excellence and innovation in the field of screen composition, and as of 2019 covers 13 categories.- ;2002 Awards
- ;2003 Awards
- ;2004 Awards
- ;2005 Awards
- ;2006 Awards
- ;2007 Awards
- ;2008 Awards
- ;2009 Awards
- ;2010 Awards
- ;2011 Awards
- ;2012 Awards
- ;2023 Screen Music Award Winners
- ; 2024 Screen Music Awards
Other awards
Emily Burrows Award
The Emily Burrows Award was instituted in 2001 in memory of Emily Burrows, a former APRA AMCOS membership representative and compliance officer. It is awarded to a South Australian artist or band annually with a $5,000 prize, to further their development and career. Electric Fields won it in 2016, with previous winners including Hilltop Hoods and The Beards, Dead Roo, and Ollie EnglishIn 2019 the prize was awarded at the South Australian Music Awards for the first time, with Dead Roo winning the Award. Seabass were presented with the award at the SAM Awards in 2020, and Tilly Tjala Thomas won it in 2021. Thomas sings in both Nukunu language and English, with her single "Ngana Nyunyi" sung in both. She won triple j Unearthed's NIMAs competition, giving her the opportunity to play at the National Indigenous Music Awards in 2021.
In 2023, Indigenous hip hop band from the APY lands, DEM MOB, won the award.