Australian Music Prize

The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award made by Australian Music Prize Ltd, a sole-purpose entity sponsored by a variety of music industry figures and record companies. The AMP was established in 2005.

Unlike the more mainstream ARIA music awards, The AMP aims to encourage Australian music of excellence - the prize's stated aim is to "financially reward and increase exposure for an Australian artist (or group of artists) who have produced and commercially released what specially appointed judges vote is the best contemporary music album in any one calendar year". In this sense, the AMP is broadly comparable to the UK's Mercury Music Prize.

2008's prize director Tracey Grimson says having a number one album counts for very little in the judging.

The thing about the Australian Music Prize is that it's genuinely about rewarding creative excellence. The albums are all listened to and they're all judged on creative merit. It doesn't matter if someone has been number one or never heard of before, they have an equal chance of making it through.

The prize typically launches at the start of October each year and accepts entries (must be new Australian artist albums commercially released in that year) in October and November. A short list is announced the following February and then a winner at an event in Sydney in March.