The 2016 NT Song of the Year Awards were held in Darwin this evening, with upwards of 200 members of the industry and local music scene in attendance at the gorgeously set up Museum and Art Gallery of the NT.
Of the 450 songs that were entered in this year’s competition, the entries were whittled down by a panel of judges from around the country in forming quite the diverse list of nominees from all genres including Blues and Roots, Urban/Hip Hop, Folk and Electronic/Dance.
Taking home the Overall NT Song of the Year award for 2016 was Alice Springs songwriter Dave Crowe, whose single “Salt” (released under his moniker Resin Moon) struck a strong chord with the judges this year. As well as winning the main award for the night, “Salt” also won in the Electronic/Dance category.
The People’s Choice Award this year was won by Katherine hip hop group KTown and their tune “Shadows” – 1300 people voted in the category this year and “Shadows” stood out as a strong favourite.
Indigenous songwriters and musicians were also major winners on the night, with Ngukurr’s Lonely Boys winning in the Rock category with “Murray Island”, Dhapanbal Yunupingu taking away the NT Song of the Year award in the Country category with “Gurtha (The Fire)”, and the Shellie Morris/Gawurra collaboration “Mulunda (Kingfisher)” taking out the award in the Pop category.
The inaugural TourismNT Territory Song Award was won by Darwin’s Ben Evolent and his tune “Next Time”, which will be used in TourismNT campaigns while along with the award, the single has also received $10,000 to fund a music video.
Check out the full list of winners below!
THE 2016 MUSICNT NT SONG OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS
OVERALL NT SONG OF THE YEAR
“Salt”
Dave Crowe aka Resin Moon
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
“Shadows”
Michael Cameron, Paddy Kossack, Devon Lines, Marcus Hamilton, Kamahi King & Shaelee aka KTown
with help from Indigenous Hip Hop Projects
ROCK SONG OF THE YEAR
“Murray Island”
Kasley Daniels, Ambrose Daniels, Burt Rami, Winston Joshua, Ben Mangi & Dylan Daniels aka Lonely Boys
POP SONG OF THE YEAR
“Mulunda (Kingfisher)”
Stanley Gawurra Gaykamangu aka Gawurra
FOLK SONG OF THE YEAR
“Everything Was At Peace”
Eleanor Dixon & Beatrice Lewis
URBAN/HIP HOP SONG OF THE YEAR
“Ruler”
Huu Loc Nguyen aka Col Infinity
BLUES & ROOTS SONG OF THE YEAR
“Give Thanks”
Colin Lillie
COUNTRY SONG OF THE YEAR
“Gurtha (The Fire)”
Dhapanbal Yunupingu ft. Shellie Morris
HEAVY SONG OF THE YEAR
“Bond”
Tom Devine-Harrison, Luke Dorward, Elliot Williams, Darcy Grant & Connor Askham aka Tapestry
ELECTRONIC/DANCE SONG OF THE YEAR
“Salt”
Dave Crowe aka Resin Moon
TOURISMNT TERRITORY SONG OF THE YEAR
“Next Time”
Joshua Tarca aka Ben Evolent
YOUTH SONG OF THE YEAR
“Kulimindini is My Home”
Alex Butler, Justin Rankine aka E Town Boyz & Eleanor Dixon
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Denise Officer & Bill Searle
———-
