Students, staff and graduates in the running for top trad awards

Published: 08/12/2020

It’s one of the biggest nights of the year for traditional music in Scotland. The MG ALBA Scots Trad Awards return this week with a string of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students, staff and alumni in the running for top honours.

Dubbed the ‘folk Oscars’, the annual awards recognise excellence within Scotland’s thriving traditional musical culture. The online ceremony will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Saturday, December 12 at 9pm, along with special recorded performances.

Professor Joshua Dickson, Head of the Traditional Music programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “We in the Traditional Music department are delighted to see so many of our past and current students, colleagues and friends recognised for their immense contribution to Scottish music and to today’s dynamic international music culture.

“The collective musical response of all nominees to the challenges of Covid has been inspiring and offers a poignant reminder that, like love, mairidh ceòl: music endures.”

In addition to the broadcast, during the day of the December 12, live Scottish trad sessions will be broadcast on Hands Up For Trad’s Facebook between 1-9pm.

It will be presented by singer songwriter Findlay Napier, with confirmed artists including Kinnaris Quintet, Dallahan, Inyal, Paul McKenna Band, Ryan Young and Jenn Butterworth and many more on

Organising body, Hands Up for Trad funded by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland, was formed in 2002 and exists to increase the profile and visibility of Scottish traditional music through information, advocacy and education to artists, participants and audiences.

This year’s twelve awards are:

* refers to current or former student

** refers to current or former staff

Music Tutor of the Year, sponsored by Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative

• Rua MacMillan*
• Rachel Hair
• Josie Duncan*
• Lauren MacColl*
• Corrina Hewat
• Laura Beth Salter
• Louise Mackenzie

Gaelic Singer of the Year, sponsored by The Highland Society of London

• Fionnag NicChoinnich (Fiona MacKenzie)
• Joy Dunlop
• Rachel Walker
• Raymond Bremner

Album of The Year, sponsored by Birnam CD

• All Is Not Forgotten by Siobhan Miller*
• Banjaxed by Ciaran Ryan
• Bayview by Project Smoke
• Eye of the Storm by Tide Lines
• Light My Byre by Peat & Diesel
• Shhh I’m on the phone by Innes Watson**
• Steall by Ewen Henderson
• The Ledger by Gillian Frame*, Findlay Napier* and Mike Vass
• The Roke by Ross Miller*
• The Woods by Hamish Napier**

Up & Coming artist of the Year, sponsored by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

• Benedict Morris*
• Rebecca Hill*
• Malin Lewis*
• Avocet

Community Music Project of the Year, sponsored by Greentrax Recordings

• Campbell’s Ceilidh
• Tunes in the Hoose
• MacGregor’s Live at Five
• Hands Up for Trad Strathspey and Reel Society
• Joy Dunlop’s Covid Choir
• Carry On Streamin
• Comhairle Cèilidhs (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar)

Event of the Year Award sponsored by VisitScotland

• 365 stories + Music (Aidan O’Rourke and James Robertson)
• Virtual Edinburgh International Harp Festival
• Fèis Rois Adult Feis Weekend Online
• Tional Gaelic Online Music Festival
• BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award 20th Anniversary Concert (Celtic Connections)
• Coastal Connections (Celtic Connections)

Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year, sponsored by Traditional Music and Song Association (TMSA)

• Siobhan Miller*
• Claire Hastings*
• Adam Holmes
• Allan & Rosemary McMillan

Trad Video of the Year, sponsored by Threads of Sound

• Erica’s by Balter
• Calum Dan’s Transit Van by Peat & Diesel
• Deep Dark Beast by Twelfth Day
• Moorlough Shore by ELIR
• Ceòl Mòr Style by Calum MacCrimmon*
• Taste the Rain by Tide Lines Choir

Online Performance of 2020, sponsored by Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust

• Sandy on Sunday Show (Sandy Brechin)
• Live from The Lounge with Paul Anderson and Shona Donaldson
• Pete Clark from the shed
• Tide Lines Virtual World Tour
• Skerryvore Live Across The World
• Duncan Chisholm’s Covid Ceilidh
• Lomond Ceilidh Band’s The Daily Ceilidh

Original Work of the Year, sponsored by PRS for Music

• The Woods by Hamish Napier**
• Everyday Hero by Skerryvore
• Graham Rorie – The Orcadians of Hudson Bay*
• Rachel Newton – To the Awe
• Camhanaich (Dawn) by Mhairi Hall

Trad Music in the Media, sponsored by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

• Marie Martin – Box and Fiddle Magazine
• Ewan Galloway and Derek Hamilton – RadioGH
• Fiona McNeill – Celtic & Folk Fusions Radio Show
• Sruth na Maoile (BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta)
• Anna Massie – Black Isle Correspondent

Musician of the Year, sponsored by the University of the Highlands and Islands

• Tim Edey
• Peter Wood
• Anna Massie
• Jenn Butterworth**
• Ailie Robertson**
• John Carmichael

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handsupfortrad

#NaTrads #NaTrads2020 #HUFTOnline #BBCALBA

Image: Heisk perform at the 2019 MG ALBA Scots Trad Awards © Paul Campbell