This year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize will go ahead with an online broadcast on November 12.
Due to covid-19, the annual award ceremony celebrating Northern Irish music will take place at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and streamed live via their YouTube channel. As well as performances from shortlisted acts Arborist, Careerist, Joshua Burnside, Kitt Philippa, Phil Kieran and Sasha Samara, it will feature live announcements for four awards: Best Album, Best Single, Best Live Act and the Oh Yeah Contender Award.
The event is scheduled to take place during the Sound of Belfast 2020 virtual festival, which runs November 6-12. The full programme for this will be announced on October 27.
Oh Yeah Music Centre’s Charlotte Dryden said, “It has been an incredibly difficult year for music, musicians and live music, but we were determined to make sure that the show will go on. We need to have a moment for our community to come together to say we are still here, we will get through this and we matter.”
“We have an incredible amount of talent to celebrate here and while we normally get together under one roof for this annual celebration, this is an opportunity to showcase our music in a new way. We’re urging everyone to join us, tune in, get involved, organise watch parties and support local music. It will be different, but we think it will be great.”
