Time to vote for your 2021 Parliamentary Jazz Award Nominees!

Voting is now open for the 2021 Parliamentary Jazz Awards, which this year will take place online. Entries are open to anyone with the final deadline set for midnight on Tuesday 14 May 20201. The Parliamentary Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

This year’s categories recognise the efforts made by musicians, labels and venues to keep performing and recording jazz during a difficult year of lockdowns and restrictions on concerts. Commenting on this challenging past year the organisers said: "These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, and journalists who keep jazz flourishing, in spite of the challenges they faced in 2020.”

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) currently has over 116 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 22 March 2021 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Colwyn and Sarah Champion MP.

The categories and criteria are:   

Jazz Album of the Year (released in 2020 by a UK band or musicians)

Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to jazz in the UK)

Jazz Newcomer of the Year (UK-based artist, musician or group with a debut album released in 2020)

Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of jazz education in the UK)

Jazz Media Award (including broadcasters, journalists, magazines, blogs, listings and books)

Jazz Venue of the Year (including jazz clubs, venues, festivals and promoters)

Jazz Ensemble of the Year (UK-based group who impressed in 2020)

Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (UK-based musician who impressed in 2020)

Jazz Vocalist of the Year (UK-based vocalist who impressed in 2020)

And there will be also be a special Lockdown Innovation Award

To vote please go to: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/parliamentaryjazzawards2021/