WAM Song of the Year

WAM was originally formed as the Western Australian Rock Music Industry Association Inc. (WARMIA) in 1985, with its main aim to develop and run annual awards recognising achievements within the music industry in Western Australia.[1] WAM first received project funding from the state government in 1989, and in the early 90s the word "rock" was dropped from the title to give the organisation scope to take on a broader constituency.

In 1989 the inaugural WA Song Contest commenced, in 2002 it was rebranded as the WAM Song of the Year.

The WAM Song of the Year is open to all residents of Western Australia. The song must be the original work of the songwriter(s). Songwriters with a publishing deal can only enter the Professional category.

Winners

1996 - Lash - then known as Exteria ('Youth' category)
1997 - Beaverloop ('Pop' category)
1998 - Cartman ('Pop' and 'Acoustic' categories)
2000 - Ivan Zar ('Blues' category)
2001 - Halogen (special theme category 'Love')
2002/03 - Andrew Horabin ('Political' category)
2004 - Lauren Brede ('Outstanding Regional' category)[2]
2005 - Damian Crosbie (The Panda Band) ('Pop' category)
2006 - Erik Hecht (Institut Polaire) ('Pop' category)
2007 - Josh Fontaine ('Pop' category)
2008 - Roly Skender and the Tonics ('Pop' category)
2009 - Umpire ('Pop' category)
2010 - Georgi Kay ('School Age 15–17 Years' category)
2011 - Timothy Nelson ('Love' category)
2012 - Rainy Day Women ('Pop' category)
2013/14 - Mathas ('Electronic' & 'Urban/Hip Hop' category)
2014/15 - KUČKA ('Electronic' category)
2015/16 - Beni Bjah ('Outstanding Indigenous' category)

Categories

2003

In 2003 there were 1,247 entries and 75 shortlisted nominees in the 15 genre categories. Winners each received $1,000 (Children & Youth winners received $500) and a days recording time at a top Perth studio. The Grand Prize winner received the opportunity to have a promotional single recorded, pressed and released among other select opportunities.

The individual category award winners were:[3]

Country - "Asbestos Fibro" - ADM Powell
Easy Listening Pop/R'n'B - "Back 2 those Timez" - Chanelle
Electronic/Hip Hop - "Boy X Girl Y" - Johnson, Vernie
Hard Rock/Metal/ Punk - "Reprisal" - Simon Pilkington, Aaron Smith
Indi Pop/Rock - "Andy Warhol" - Little Birdy
Jazz/ Funk - "That Hurt" - Myles Wright
Roots - "Sheba Lane" - Lynn Hazelton
Soundtrack/ Filmscore/Experimental - "Green Lantern" - Johannes Luebbers
World/Multicultural - "Day Oh" - Eloy Cardenas
Indigenous - "Raining on Djilba" - George Walley
Children - "Something More" - Wesley Fuller
Youth - "On My Own" - Ryan Blair, Justin Flamer
Love - "Walking Over Sea" - Sam Dunn, Ben Dunn
Political - "Georgie Boy" - Andrew Horabin
Songs For Kids - "Pirlpirltji" - L. Hazelton, A. Ovi, S. Stanford

2004

The WAM Song of the Year for 2004 was announced at the Fly by Night Club in Fremantle on Thursday 16 September 2004. The evening featured performances from past winners including Andrew Horabin and Lynn Hazelton, as well as finalists for the 2005 competition. The WAM Song of the Year was presented by the Minister for the Arts the Hon. Sheila McHale. There was over 1,300 songs entered in the competition with 75 works nominated by the industry panels as finalists in the 15 genre categories.

The individual category award winners were:[4]

Commercial/Contemporary Pop - "Breathe" - Cassie Swinney, Alistair Watson & Escher
Country - "Dirty Liar" - Rob Findlay & Haley Mason
Electronic/Dance Category - "Hit '5'" - Tim Macnamara & Diego Bosco
Hard Rock/Metal - "Bay of Martyrs" - Mike Sukys
Indie Rock/Punk Category - "Tread Easy" - James Crombie & The Bank Holidays
Jazz - "West Bank Moon" - Michael Pigneguy & Sian Brown
Roots - "Slipping With the Blues" - Gerard Maunick
Urban - "Wait a Minute" - Tsunami & Nathan Jamieson
Love - "Blame Me" - Frans Bisschops, Jasmine Yee & Michael Miller
Gospel - "Take Over" - Chad Blondel
ASME Upper Secondary (Years 11-12) – "Radio Play" - Melissa Erpen
ASME Lower Secondary (Years 8-10) – "Home Sweet Home" - Danni Stefanetti
ASME Primary Category – "Sidewalk Surfer" - The Flairz
Indigenous - "Hardway" - The Hill (John Bullen, Jarred Wall)
Outstanding Regional Song - "Time For You To Go" - Lauren Brede[2]

2005

The WAM Song of the Year for 2005 was announced at the Fly By Night Club in Fremantle on Thursday 27 October 2005. The evening featured performances from past winners including Andrew Horabin and Lynn Hazelton, as well as finalists for the 2005 competition. Performing on the night were The Bank Holidays, Lake of Bass, New Rules For Boats, Peter Brandy, The Flairz and the 2004 Song of the Year winner, Lauren Brede. The WAM Song of the Year was presented by the Minister for the Arts the Hon. Sheila McHale. There were close to 1,500 songs entered in the competition with 86 works nominated by the industry panels as finalists in the 17 genre categories.

The individual category award winners were:

Pop - "Sleepy Little Death Toll Town" - Damian Crosbie (The Panda Band)[5]
Mixed Bag - "Then You Appear" - Damian Crosbie (The Panda Band)
Blues & Roots - "4 Men Dead" - Kevin Smith
Country - "Lord I Want An Exit" - Emily Barker
Electronic/Dance - "We Gave Colour Away" - Harvey Rae and Hiro? (Thread)
Love - "Drunkard's Wife" - Pete Stone
Rock - "Information" - Sascha Ion, Ronan Charles, Stuart Leach (One Horse Town)
Urban - "Take 5" - Tsunami
World and Folk - "Long Time Ago" - Peter Brandy
Jazz - "Storm" - Marnie Kent and Grant Windsor (Ginger Blu Collective)
Heavy Rock/Metal - "Falling" - Shannon de Bie
Gospel - "Learning to Say" - Mark Cullen
Indigenous Song of the Year - "Long Time Ago" - Peter Brandy
Regional Song of the Year - "Lord I Want An Exit" - Emily Barker
Primary School Aged - "Holey Cheeses" - Oliver Bradley, Albert Loss
Lower Secondary School Aged - "Memory Lane" - Wesley Fuller
Upper Secondary School Aged - "The Best is Yet to Come" - Ben Blondel

2006

The WAM Song of the Year for 2006 was announced on Thursday 19 October 2006 at the Fly By Night Club in Fremantle with awards in 17 different categories. Performing on the night were Kavyen Temperly from Eskimo Joe, The Panda Band, Abbe May and The Rockin' Pneumonia, One Horse Town, the Catherine Noblet Quartet and The Watts.[6][7] Presenters from Xpress Magazine, The West Australian, RTRFM, ABC Radio, Nova 93.7, Drum Media, Network 10, APRA, Perth International Arts Festival and Minister for the Arts, the Honorable Sheila McHale announced the winners. The winners of most categories were awarded $1,000 cash and 1 day of recording time in a leading Perth studio. The winner of the Grand Prize received an additional 3 days recording time with producer Rob Grant at Poons Head Studios and the pressing of 500 promotional singles/EPs through Westlink Multimedia/MGM.[8]

The individual category award winners were:[9]

Pop - "City Walls and Empires" - Erik Hecht (Institut Polaire)[10]
Blues/Roots - "Sidewindin'" - Abbe May
Gospel - "Flowers in the Desert" - Jeremy Dixon
Electronic/Dance - "These Times" - David McKinney, Rachel Claudio
Heavy Rock/Metal - "Drag in Drag Out" - Kevin Curran, Todd Fishwick
Primary - Free - "Matt Larsen"
Rock - "Red Means Go" - B. Mulvena-Trinder, I. Berney, J. Sher, C. Palmer
Jazz - "Wanderer" - Catherine Noblet
Lower Secondary - "Shadows of a City" - E. Hamilton, G. Hutchings, M. Mackintosh, L. Osborn
Urban - "Lose Control" - S.Roy, C.Wancer (Roy-Al feat. Cristian Alexanda)
World/Folk - "Mon Ankor Anmourer" - Grace Barbe, James Searle
Love - "Old Folks, Drunks and Babies" - Sascha Ion
Upper Secondary - "Happy Birthday Dave" - Matt Gresham
Regional - "Call of the Wild" - Xavier Brown
Country - "Live on Love" - Polly (Kylie) Medlen
Indigenous - "Our Song" - Jason Bartlett and Phillip Bartlett
Mixed Bag - "It's a PC 21st Century New Millennium Romantic Arrangement..." - Andrew Horabin

2007

The 2007 WAM Song of the Year was announced at the Fly By Night in Fremantle, on Wednesday 31 October 2007. There were eighteen category winners and included for the first year a Professional category where published Western Australian based songwriters are given the chance to enter their works in WA's premier song writing Awards.[11] The Grand Prize for the WAM Song of the Year in 2007 includes a 3-day recording session and a pressing of 500 CDs.

The individual category award winners were:[12][13]

Gospel - "My Hallelujah" Paul Morrison
Jazz - "Curious Yellow" Adrian Kelly
Country - "Take Me With You" Polly Medlen
Urban - "Get By" Glen Foreman, Scott Griffiths & Alex Plant
Electronic / Dance - "Hot Property" Hayley McLennan and Simon Sieradzki
Indigenous - "Kick the Monkey" Jason Bartlett & Phillip Bartlett
World and Folk - "Moodjebing" Jessie Lloyd & Della Rae Morrison
Regional - "Two Months" Polly Medlen
Love - "There is a Room on Hold" James Crombie & Wibekke Reczek (The Bank Holidays)
Blues 'n' Roots - "Lara Clare" Craig Sinclair
Primary - "Valley of Flowers" by Madi MacDougall & Erika McKay
Lower Secondary - "Wishing on a Star" Jordi Davieson
Upper Secondary - "Overcast Day" Timothy Nelson
Mixed Bag - "Bring Out Your Dead" Rachael Dease, Tristen Parr, Ant Gray, Tara John & Greg Hosking (Schvendes)
Rock - "The World or Nothing" Scott Tomlinson, Greg Sanders, Brenton Bell & Dayvid Clark
Heavy Rock/Metal - "Broken Eyes" Brett Jones, Johnny Kyi & Nigel Watts
Pop - "Holidayz" Josh Fontaine
Professional - "Sun Dirt Water" by Vikki Thorn (The Waifs)

2008

The 2008 WAM Song of the Year was announced at the Fly By Night in Fremantle, on Thursday 9 October 2008. The 85 nominees in 17 categories were announced on Monday 22 September. The Grand Prize for the WAM Song of the Year 2008 included a cash prize of $5,000, together with a 3-day recording session at Poons Head Recording Studio and 500 CDs by DiskBank.[14]

For the first time, the public were invited to listen to and vote for a nominee in the Most Popular Song category. Public voting was later cancelled after claims of technical issues allowing multiple votes, it was replaced by judging by Sunday Times and PerthNOW entertainment staff.[15] The professional category was also cancelled due to lack of numbers.

Over 400 songwriters from throughout Western Australia submitted 1640 songs, the second highest number of entries received in the competition's 19-year history.

The 18 award winners were:[16]

Blues & Roots - "Howl And Moan" by Abbe May
Café - "Revien" by Cloud Kollektiv
Country - "Place Where I Belong" by Phyllis Bennell (Warangka Band)
Electronic/Dance - "Realizing" by Cloud Kollektiv
Gospel - "Light" by Lindsay Hamminga
Heavy Rock/Metal - "Refuse The Sickness" by R Felton, S Mitchell, D Anderton, M Kruit & C Mitchell (Chaos Divine)
Indigenous - "Gundulla - We Dance" by D Stokes, B Stokes, J Masters & R Martinez (The Yabu Band)
Jazz - "Til Death Does Me Part" by Johannes Luebbers
Mixed Bag - "The Land" by Abraham Dunovits (Funkalleros)
Pop - "Feel" by Roly Skender and The Tonics
Regional - "Kaya" by Charmaine Bennell (Warangka Band), from Bunbury WA
Rock - "Howl And Moan" by Abbe May
School, Primary - "Shadows" by Josephine Langford
School, Secondary Lower - "Smile" by Mike Nutt
School, Secondary Upper - "The Pony and the Ark" by Lyndon Blue
Urban - "Behind The Curtain" by Emcee Able
World & Folk - "Kaya" by Charmaine Bennell (Warangka Band)

2008 Grand Prize
As judged by an independent industry panel from all category winners.
"Feel" by Roly Skender and The Tonics

2008 Most Popular Song
As judged by The Sunday Times and PerthNOW entertainment staff from all nominated songs.
"Give Up Money For Music" by Robert Sazdov (BSYDE)

2009

The 2009 WAM Song of the Year was announced by the Hon. Dr Graham Jacobs MLA – Minister for Mental Health, at the Fly By Night Musicians' Club in Fremantle. There were 80 nominees across 16 categories were chosen from over 1,200 entries. The Grand Prize carried a prize of $5,000 cash, a publishing deal with Shock Music Publishing, a recording and mastering package courtesy of Poons Head Studios and James Hewgill Music, and a run of 500 CDs supplied by Diskbank.