Austrian World Music Awards

The 2015 finalists

The finalists 2014

The Austrian World Music Awards are a music prize for musicians working in Austria in the field of world music . First awarded in 2004, with the exception of 2009, they were awarded annually until 2011. After another interruption, the eighth award ceremony took place in December 2014 and the ninth in December 2015, as in previous years at the Porgy & Bess jazz club in Vienna . For budgetary reasons, there was no event in 2016. The main aim of the competition is to provide a platform for bands and musicians who are not yet well known.

The Austrian World Music Awards arose from an award ceremony within the framework of the “Festival of Sounds” organized by the Vienna International Culture and Communication Center . In 2014, IG World Music Austria, founded in 2007, took over the reorganization and organization of the awards.

In relation to the competition, the term “ world music ” is understood as a “synthesis of traditional folk music (of any origin: from all over the world, Austria included) and western music trends”, whereby the pieces of music submitted are “rooted in ethnic traditions” or in traditional ones Folk music should have its starting point.

Participation and awarding of prizes

Bands or musicians who mainly work in Austria can take part in the competition; in the case of bands, the majority of musicians should live in Austria. The jury will select the participants from the submissions for the evening of the final, where they will each play a 20-minute concert. The jury then selects two winners (2014: main and newcomer prizes, 2015: 1st and 2nd prizes) and the audience votes on who receives the audience award. In the run-up to the evening of the award ceremony, the jury will select a personality who will receive the honorary award for special merits in the areas of world music, integration or intercultural communication . The endowments have been increased for the 2015 final: for the main prize 3,500 instead of 2,500 euros, for the second prize 2,500 instead of 1,500, for the audience award 1,500 euros instead of 1,000.