Sheppard, Sia, Dan Sultan, 5SOS, lead APRA awards nominations

Sheppard, Sia, Dan Sultan and 5 Seconds of Summer lead the nominations for this year’s APRA Music Awards on Tuesday March 24 at Sydney’s Carriageworks.

Sheppard lead the pack with four nominations in the Song of the Year, Pop Work of the Year, Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year and Most Played Australian Work categories.

“We are so proud to be acknowledged by the industry with these APRA nominations and we’re especially thankful to our fellow songwriters who voted for us for Song of the Year,” George Sheppard told TMN. “We are so pleased that we’ve been able to help take original Australian song writing to the world over the last year and we look forward to coming home to celebrate with everyone soon.”

Following with three are Sia and co-writer Jesse Shatkin, first time nominees 5SOS and Dan Sultan.

“There are a lot of great musicians both nominated and not nominated,” Dan Sultan told TMN. “We are happy to be in the mix and we're Looking forward to a fun night.”

Watch Dan Sultan discuss his Song of the Year nomination below

Songwriters with multiple nominations in the ten categories include Angus and Julia Stone, The McClymonts, Guy Sebastian, 360, M-Phazes, Joel Fletcher and Pip Norman. First-time nominees include Stonefield, Kingswood, Peking Duk, Nicole Millar, Morgan Evans, Hayley Warner, Halfway, Alex Hope, Kim Churchill, Mark Wells, Adam Eckersley, Mikah Freeman and Vance Musgrove.

Song of the Year: (as chosen by APRA AMCOS’ 37,000 members) Sia & Shatkin’s Chandelier, Sultan’s Kimberley Calling, The Veronicas (with co-writers Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci) for You Ruin Me and Sheppard for Geronimo.

Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year: Sheppard, The Preatures and M-Phazes, and first-time nominees Chet Faker, 5SOS and YouTube sensation Troye Sivan.

Most Played Australian Work: Sia’s Chandelier, Sheppard’s Geronimo, Guy Sebastian’s Like A Drum, 5SOS’s She Looks So Perfect and Joel Fletcher & Savage’s Swing (John Fletcher remix).

International Work of the Year: Pharrell Williams’ Happy, Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne’s Rather Be, Magic!’s Rude, Sam Smith’s Stay With Me and Eminem ft. Rihanna’s The Monster.

Blues & Roots Work of the Year: Halfway’s Dulcify, Angus & Julia Stone’s Get Home, Angus & Julia Stone’s Heart Beats Slow, John Butler Trio’s Livin’ In The City and Kim Churchill’s Window To The Sky.

Country Work of the Year: Adam Brand’s Freedom Rebels, Adam Eckersley Band’s Give Her The World, The McClymonts’ Going Under (Didn’t Have To), The McClymonts’ Here’s To You And I and Morgan Evans’ One Eye for An Eye.

Dance Work of the Year: Neon Jungle’s Braveheart, Flume & Chet Faker’s Drop The Game, Peking Duk ft. Nicole Millar’s High, Joel Fletcher & Savage’s Swing (John Fletcher remix) and The Aston Shuffle’s Tear It Down.

Pop Work of the Year: Taylor Henderson’s Borrow My Heart, Sia’s Chandelier, Sheppard’s Geronimo, Guy Sebastian’s Like A Drum and 5SOS’s She Looks So Perfect.

Rock Work of the Year: Stonefield’s Love You Deserve, Kingswood’s Sucker Punch, The Jezabel’s The End, Dan Sultan’s The Same Man and Dan Sultan’s Under Your Skin.

Urban Work of the Year: 360 ft. Pez’s Live It Up, Bliss “n’Eso ft. Ceekay Jones’ My Life, 360 ft. Gossling’s Price Of Fame, Illy ft. Scarlett Stevens’ Tightrope and the Hilltop Hoods ft. Maverick Sabre’s Won’t Let You Down.

Two awards presented on the night, decided by the APRA Board of Directors are Songwriter of the Year and the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music. Most Played Australian Work Overseas will also be announced.

This year, coming on board for the awards are live music streaming platform Moshcam, whose channels will be powered by digital roadies Hostworks, to feature performance highlights and interviews with winners.

For full list of winners, including details on songwriters and publishers of each track, go to www.apra-amcos.com.au.