Hamish Hawk, Cloth, Constant Follower, and Kapil Seshasayee are among the acts to make the longlist for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award – Scotland’s national music prize.

Andrew Wasylyk, Comfort and Free Love also rub shoulders with established acts like superstar Paolo Nutini and previous SAY and Mercury award-winners Young Fathers on the roster of 20 contenders in the running to take the crown for 2023.

20 acts have whittled down from a record-breaking 437 eligible albums by 100 impartial music industry nominators, with each Longlisted album isnow in the running for the coveted SAY Award title and £20,000 first prize, with the winner to be announced at The SAY Award 2022 Ceremony taking place at Stirling’s Albert Halls on Thursday 26th October.

In alphabetical order, The SAY Award Longlist for 2022 is as follows:

Andrew Wasylyk – Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls
Becky Sikasa – Twelve Wooden Boxes
Bemz – Nova’s Dad
Brìghde Chaimbeul – Carry Them With Us
Brooke Combe – Black Is the New Gold
Brownbear – Demons
Cloth – Secret Measure
Comfort – What’s Bad Enough?
Eyes of Others – Eyes of Others
Free Love – Inside
Hamish Hawk – Angel Numbers
Joesef – Permanent Damage
Juliette Lemoine – Soaring
Kapil Seshasayee – Laal
LVRA – Soft Like Steel
Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
Scott William Urquhart & Constant Follower – Even Days Dissolve
The Snuts – Burn The Empire
Su-a Lee – Dialogues
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

The Longlist will now be whittled down to a Shortlist of 10 albums, one of which will be chosen by music fans via a 72-hour online public vote from 2 – 4 October. The remaining nine albums will be chosen by The SAY Award judging panel, who will then later reconvene to determine 2023’s winner.

The SAY Award winner will receive a £20,000 prize and walk away with the coveted title of Scottish Album of the Year, whilst nine runners up on the Shortlist will each receive £1,000. All artists will also receive bespoke prizes created by a Stirling-based artist through The SAY Award Design Commission; highlighting the enduring links between music, art and design in Scotland.

The SAY Award winner will be revealed alongside the winner of The Sound of Young Scotland Award and the Modern Scottish Classic Award. The Sound of Young Scotland Award aims to stimulate the future of Scottish music and provides a young and emerging artist with financial support to enable the creation of their debut album, whilst the Modern Scottish Classic Award recognises an iconic album from Scotland’s past that still inspires today.

Tickets for 2023’s ceremony at the Albert Halls, Stirling are on sale now via www.sayaward.com with 2022’s winner Fergus McCreadie set to perform before the winner of Scotland’s national album prize is revealed.

To keep up to date with SAY Award 2023 news, follow the award on social media across Twitter @SAYaward, Instagram @sayaward and Facebook@SAYaward, or visit www.sayaward.com.