The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is heading for Edinburgh in 2019, following the announcement that the country’s most prestigious prize wil be presented at a ceremony in the capital in September.

The national music prize, now in its eighth year, celebrates, promotes and rewards the albums released by Scottish artists each year.

As before, there will be a £20,000 prize for the winner as well as nine runner-up prizes of £1,000 each for each of the long-players which makes the shortlist.

The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), who are charged with organising the competition, have announced that a ‘Live at the Longlist’ night – a ticketed live music event announcing the 20 albums nominated for the prize – will take place at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall in July.

And the award ceremony itself will also take place in the capital, in September at The Assembly Rooms – perhaps aptly, considering that two-time and most recent winners, Young Fathers (pictured), hail from Leith, not for from Edinburgh itself.

The SMIA’s general manager, Robert Kilpatrick, said: “The SMIA is absolutely delighted to be bringing the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award to Edinburgh in 2019. Edinburgh has no shortage of fantastic cultural events, but as Scotland’s national music prize, we’re delighted to see one of our country’s most exciting music events make its debut in the capital city.

“As has been well documented, live music in Edinburgh has faced challenging times in recent years with the loss of several key grassroots venues. Edinburgh excels at providing a platform for many other cultural strands, so we are delighted to be working with Edinburgh City Council to amplify the cultural importance of live music in our capital city.”

Artists, labels and fans will be able to submit eligible albums for the 2019 prize via sayaward.com from 1 May.