Prog Magazine is proud to announce the first annual Progressive Music Awards, which is coming to London in September.
Steven Wilson leads the nominations with five, followed by both Steve Hackett and Ian Anderson, who are nominated in four categories each, and with Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt and It Bites both featuring in three different awards categories.
A full list of all the categories and nominees can be found at the Prog website at: www.progrockmag.com/awards where readers can have their say by voting in five of the categories - New Blood, Live Event, Anthem, Album Of The Year and Grand Design.
Readers who vote will have the chance to win a bumper prize of prog goodies from all the band's nominated as well as a piece of prog-related framed artwork from The Flood Gallery (www.thefloodgallery.com) who will be hosting a prog art exhibition at the Awards themselves.
"These awards have been a long time coming," says Prog Editor Jerry Ewing. "But certainly when one considers the enormous amount of success that progressive artists have garnered over the past four decades, and perhaps more importantly the enjoyment they have given millions of fans over the years, it's only right we give something back to the musicians themselves And given the buoyancy of the genre in recent years, we felt that the time was certainly right.
"We think we've managed to get the balance of nominations right with acknowledgement of the original wave of progressive artists who have been such an inspiration to so many people, and today's new wave of forward thinking musicians who carry the flame ever onwards."
Vote in the Progressive Music Awards
The full list of categories and nominations is:
Prog Awards 2012 categories And nominees
NEW BLOOD [Sponsored by KScope]
The best up and coming act of the year, unsigned or signed and fledgling.
TesseracT
Gazpacho
Von Hertzen Brothers
Headspace
The Reasoning
Haken
Touchstone
LIVE EVENT [Sponsored by Esoteric/Cherry Red]
For the band or act who made the greatest show on earth this year.
Ian Anderson - Thick As A Brick tour
Summer's End Festival
Opeth - Brixton Academy
Steve Hackett - ChildLine Rocks Charity Show, Islington Assembly Rooms
Steven Wilson - Shepherd's Bush Empire
Marillion - Forum/US Tour
Anathema - Union Chapel/Koko
ANTHEM
Prog comes in all shapes and sizes these days. We salute the most creative songs of the past 12 months.
Steven Wilson - Raider II
Panic Room - Song For Tomorrow
Arena - One Last Au Revoir
Karmakanic - Turn It Up
Crippled Black Phoenix - Laying Traps
It Bites - The Last Escape
Squackett - A Life Within A Day
ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Sponsored by InsideOut]
The best of the progressive full length releases.
Anathema - Weather Systems
Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
Opeth - Heritage
It Bites - Map Of The Past
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Yes - Fly From Here
Nightwish - Imaginaerum
GRAND DESIGN
Celebrating the artistic achievement for the raft of Special and Deluxe Editions that populate the modern progressive genre.
Pink Floyd - Immersion Reissues
King Crimson - Panegyric Reissues
Peter Gabriel - New Blood Deluxe Edition
Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning Deluxe Edition
Rush - Sectors Box Sets
Jethro Tull - Aqualung 40th Anniversary Special Edition
Tangerine Dream - Zeit Box Set
VIRTUOSO [Sponsored by KEF]
The musician who's the cream of the 2012 prog crop chop-wise - could be a tub-thumper, a singer, keyboard king or guitar slinger. Being prog, it could even be the nose flute.
Mike Portnoy (Flying Colors)
John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
John Mitchell (It Bites/Arena)
Nick Beggs (Steve Hackett/Steven Wilson)
Rob Reed (Magenta)
Carl Palmer (ELP/Asia)
Roine Stolt (Flower Kings/Transatlantic)
VISIONARY [Sponsored by Eagle Rock]
The spirit of prog independence, the rogues in our midst who make their own niche in a progressive direction.
Hawkwind
Kraftwerk
Radiohead
Muse
Can
Peter Hammill
Kate Bush
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT [Sponsored by Prog Rocks!]
Who do you think of when you think of prog? These are the people who have kept the flag flying and are synonymous with the genre. Their unswerving dedication and nerve has built the foundations for generations to come.
Jehtro Tull
Pink Floyd
Yes
Moody Blues
Genesis
Van der Graaf Generator
ELP
GUIDING LIGHT
The person at the pinnacle of progressive thought today, this award is for the men and women who keep pushing boundaries, keep prog in the public eye and continue to inspire the young artists just setting out on their own paths.
Mikael Akerfeldt
Matt Bellamy
Robert Fripp
Steve Hackett
Mike Portnoy
Steven Wilson
Fish
PROG GOD [Sponsored by Orange]
The biggest movers and shakers within the progressive field over the last 40 years. Without this person prog would be a different, lesser place.
Ian Anderson
Rick Wakeman
Roger Waters
Peter Gabriel
Jon Anderson
Kate Bush
Steve Hillage
Information taken from official press release, for more visit Prog Rock
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