APRA to give away $120K in 2015 Professional Development Awards

The Australasian Performing Right Association’s (APRA) bi-annual career boosting initiative, the Professional Development Awards, is now open to applicants.

Having played a hand in the careers of past winners Gotye, Abbe May, screen composer Caitlin Yeo, Husky, Georgi Kay, Amali Ward and Morgan Evans, among others, this year’s prize pool offers eight winners over $15,000 each worth of career support.

This year, the overall prize pool is $120,000 and PDA sponsor Audio Technica is offering each winning songwriter and composer a microphone and headphone package.

The eight winners will be chosen from six categories:

*Popular Contemporary (three awards are given in this category including Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Hip Hop, Dance and R&B)
*Country
*Jazz

*Classical
*Film and Television
*Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI)

New to the Professional Development Awards this year is The Smugglers of Light initiative. The newly created Indigenous Music and Media Award is part of The Smugglers of Light foundation; it will recognise one emerging Australian Indigenous music or media practitioner with a grant of $12,000.

The Smugglers of Light foundation was created in memory of composer Nigel Westlake's 21-year-old son Eli. Eli was killed in Sydney on June 7 2008.

The judging panel for 2015 includes: Lior, Andrea Keller, James Blundell, Mark Moffatt, Josh Pyke, Jenny Morris, Kav Temperley, Jon Hume, Rai Thistlethwayte, UK songwriter and music producer Gary Go and Swedish based music producer, songwriter, film composer and mixing engineer Erik Lewander.

Applications for the 2015 APRA Professional Development Awards close at 5.00pm on Tuesday August 25. Apply at apraamcos.com.au/pda