Music Victoria Awards of 2020


The Music Victoria Awards of 2020 are the 15th Annual Music Victoria Awards and consist of a series of awards, presented on 8 December 2020. For the first time, an Outstanding Woman in Music Award and Best Producer Award will be awarded.

Hall of Fame inductees

Mary Mihelakos has worked across the entire spectrum of the industry – running her own PR company, booking a wide range of venues, being music editor of Beat, the Sticky Carpet columnist for The Age and running the Music Victoria Awards for a number of years. Mihelakos mortgaged her home to co-deliver the first Aussie BBQ showcases at SXSW – an initiative now adopted for industry events around the world to spotlight Australian acts.
Chris Wilson is a blues singer, harmonica player, guitarist and saxophonist. After his beginnings in Sole Twister, Harem Scarem and Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls, Chris Wilson went on to front his bands as Crown of Thorns and released a series of acclaimed albums. Wilson died on 16 January 2019, aged 63, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Award nominees and winners

General awards

Voted on by the public.
Winners indicated in boldface, with other nominees in plain.
Best Victorian AlbumBest Victorian Song

  • Sampa the Great – "OMG"
  • *Baker Boy – "Move"
  • *Leah Senior – "Evergreen"
  • *Mildlife – "Rare Air"
  • *RVG – "I Used to Love You"
    • Best BandBest Breakthrough Act
    Amyl and the Sniffers
  • *Cable Ties
  • *King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
  • *Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
  • *RVG
  • Pinch Points
  • *Alice Skye
  • *Elizabeth
  • *Grace Cummings
  • *Nat Vazer
    • Best MusicianBest Solo Artist
  • Amy Taylor
  • *Erica Dunn
  • *Gareth Liddiard
  • *Gordon Koang
  • *Jen Cloher
  • *Romy Vager
  • *Sampa Tembo
  • *SilentJay
  • *Stu Mackenzie
  • *Tom Iansek
  • Sampa the Great
  • *Angie McMahon
  • *Baker Boy
  • *Briggs
  • *Courtney Barnett
  • *Elizabeth
  • *Gordon Koang
  • *Leah Senior
  • *Simona Castricum
  • *Sui Zhen
    • Best Live Act
  • Amyl and The Sniffers
  • *Cable Ties
  • *Gordon Koang
  • *Sampa The Great
  • *The Teskey Brothers
    		• -

    Genre Specific Awards

    Voted by a select industry panel
    Best Blues AlbumBest Country Album

    		Tracy McNeil & The GoodLife – You Be the Lightning
  • * The Cartwheels – Self-titled
  • * Lost Ragas– This Is Not a Dream
  • * Michael Waugh – The Weir
  • * Mitch Dean – Holding Back the Levee
    • Best Electronic ActBest Experimental/Avant-Garde Act
  • Sleep D
  • *DRMNGNOW
  • *OK EG
  • *Pugilist
  • *Simona Castricum
  • Robin Fox
  • *Bridget Chappell
  • *James Rushford
  • *Maria Moles
  • *Natasha Anderson
    • Best Folk or Roots AlbumBest Heavy Album
  • Fiona Ross & Shane O'Mara – Sunwise Turn
  • *Charm of Finches – Your Company
  • *Liz Frencham – Love and Other Crimes
  • *Louisa Wise – All of These Things
  • *Ruth Hazleton – Daisywheel
  • Diploid – Glorify
  • *Carcinoid – Metastatic Declination
  • *Dead – Raving Drooling
  • *Internal Rot – Grieving Birth
  • *Sithlord – From Out of the Darkness
    • Best Hip Hop ActBest Intercultural Act
  • Birdz
  • *DRMNGNOW
  • *Jordan Dennis
  • *Nomad
  • *Sampa The Great
  • Black Jesus Experience
  • *Amaru Tribe
  • *Gelareh Pour's Garden
  • *No Borders Music
  • *Sampa The Great
    • Best Jazz AlbumBest Reggae or Dance Hall Act
  • Vanessa Perica Orchestra – Love is a Temporary Madness
  • *Andrea Keller - Life Is Brutal
  • *Horns of Leroy – Big Night
  • *JK Group – The Young Ones
  • *ZEDSIX – The Shape of Jazz
  • Dub FX
  • *Jah Tung
  • *Marvin Priest
  • *Monkey Marc
  • *The Push Reggae Band
    • Best Rock/Punk AlbumBest Soul, Funk, R'n'B and Gospel Album
  • Cable Ties – Far Enough
  • *Nuada – Beneath the Swamp
  • *Pseudo Mind Hive – Of Seers and Sirens
  • *RVG – Feral
  • *Shepparton Airplane – Sharks
  • Sampa The Great – The Return
  • *Karate Boogaloo – Carn the Boogers
  • *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

    • Other Awards

    Voted by a select industry panel
    Best Small Venue Best Large Venue
    The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
    		Forum Theatre, Melbourne
  • *Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank
  • *Corner Hotel, Richmond
  • *The Night Cat, Fitzroy
  • *Hamer Hall, Melbourne
    • Best Regional/Outer Suburban Venue Best Regional/Outer Suburban Venue
    Barwon Club Hotel – Geelong
  • *The Bridge Hotel – Castlemaine
  • *The Eastern – Ballarat
  • *Torquay Hotel – Torquay
  • *Sooki Lounge – Belgrave
    		• Theatre Royal – Castlemaine
  • *The Blues Train – Queenscliff
  • *The Sound Doctor Presents – Anglesea
  • *Volta – Ballarat
  • *Daylesford Cider – Daylesford
    • Best Regional/Outer Suburban ActBest Festival
  • The Teskey Brothers
  • *Benny Walker
  • *Bones and Jones
  • *Freya Josephine Hollick
  • *The Kite Machine
  • Golden Plains Festival
  • *Brunswick Music Festival
  • *Isol-Aid
  • *Melbourne Music Week
  • *Queenscliff Music Festival
    • Best ProducerOutstanding Woman in Music
    Joelistics for Mo'Ju & Joelistics Ghost Town
  • * Annika Schmarsel aka Alice Ivy: Sunrise', "Don't Sleep", "Better Man"
  • *Anna Laverty: Milk on Milk
  • *Damien Charles: Coda Chroma Inside the Still Life
  • *Tom Iansek: #1 Dads – Golden Repair
    		• Sarah Hamilton
  • *Anna Laverty
  • *Charlotte Abroms
  • *Coco Eke
  • *Emily Ulman
    • The Archie Roach Foundation Award for Emerging Talent-
  • Kee'ahn
  • *Alice Skye
  • *Allara
  • *The Merindas
  • *River Boy
    		• -