Scotland’s national music prize, the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, has opened up its voting to the public, as music fans can cast their votes to influence which albums secure a place on the highly-anticipated Shortlist, to be announced on 8th October.

Voting is open until midnight on Wednesday 7th October, allowing three days for fans to cast their ballots for their favourite longlisted album, at www.sayaward.com.

The online vote is free to enter and allows for one vote per person. The Longlisted album which secures the most public votes is guaranteed a place on the Shortlist and a minimum prize of £1,000, with the remaining nine Shortlist spots decided by this year’s panel of judges.

The SAY Award Judging Panel will then decide which release picks up the £20,000 first prize, on October 29th.

The 11-strong panel – boasting a 50:50 gender balance for the second year running – has judges from England, France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as Scots including Detour’s Ally McCrae (now a BBC producer), and DJ and Anstruther native Edith Bowman.

The SAY Award 2020 Longlist, in alphabetical order, is:
Anna Meredith – FIBS
Blanck Mass – Animated Violence Mild
Bossy Love – Me + U
Callum Easter – Here Or Nowhere
Cloth – Cloth
Comfort – Not Passing
Declan Welsh & The Decadent West – Cheaply Bought, Expensively Sold
Elephant Sessions – What Makes You
Erland Cooper – Sule Skerry
Fat-Suit – Waifs & Strays
Free Love – Extreme Dance Anthems
Honeyblood – In Plain Sight
Karine Polwart – Karine Polwart’s Scottish Songbook
Lewis Capaldi – Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent
Mezcla – Shoot the Moon
The Ninth Wave – Infancy
Nova – Re-Up
Sacred Paws – Run Around The Sun
Shhe – Shhe
Vistas – Everything Changes In The End

Vote at www.sayaward.com.