Liverpool music prize The GIT Award 2015 returns plus Launch Party

Liverpool music prize The GIT Award 2015 returns plus Launch Party

Liverpool’s premier new music prize The GIT Award is back for its fourth successive year. 

The process to find the 12 shortlisted GIT Award 2015 nominees opens today ahead of the official award launch event which will take place at Liverpool Music Week's closing party on Saturday 1 November 2014. 

The GIT Award winner will be announced at a showcase ceremony at The Kazimier on Saturday 4 April 2015, featuring nominees and special guests. 

The GIT Award, dubbed by the NME as the ‘Scouse Mercury Prize,’ is the only prize of its kind in the UK, championing vital new talent within Merseyside’s eclectic music community, pushing innovative musicians right across the world. 

The overall winner of the GIT Award 2015 will receive a cash prize of £1000. 

The fourth GIT Award recipient will follow in the footsteps of previous winners Loved Ones (2012), Baltic Fleet (2013) and  last year's victor Forest Swords, who due to touring commitments drafted in reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry to collect his prize. 

A special Inspiration Award, recognising significant outstanding achievement in Merseyside’s music industry will also be presented. The 2014 Inspiration Award went to the team behind Africa Oye while previous recipients include Hillsborough Justice Collective (2013) and the directors of the Kazimier club (2012). 

This year's GIT Award launch is on Saturday 1 November 2014 at one of the city's most vital emerging clubs, 24 Kitchen Street, in the Baltic Triangle as part of Liverpool Music Week's closing party. It is headlined by the winner of the very first GIT Award One To Watch prize, Lapsley. 

In a little under nine months, 18-year-old Merseysider, Lapsley (aka Holly Lapsley Fletcher) has seen her music played on Radio 1 and 6 Music, played Glastonbury, racked up widespread national print coverage and over one million plays on her SoundCloud page despite having yet to sign a record deal. 

Alongside Lapsley, and in keeping with the GIT Award's ethos, also performing at 24 Kitchen Street are a raft of artists who are gaining buzz in their home city and further afield. They include electronic artist VEED, experimental duo Queen Maud and avant-garde fusionists Chemistry Lane. There will be additional DJ sets by acclaimed Liverpool-based, Irish producer or:la. 

Speaking ahead of her headline set, Lapsley said: "It's great to be a part of the GIT Award 2015 launch at Liverpool Music Week. I love playing in my home town and having won the GIT Award One To Watch last year it's wonderful to have the support once again." 

Launched at Liverpool Music Week in November 2011, the GIT Award, founded by Liverpool-based blog Getintothis is now an annual fixture on the Merseyside music scene, supported by musicians, industry figures and national media. 

Among the judging panel during the GIT Award’s three years were NME, 6 Music’s Tom Ravenscroft, The Quietus, The Guardian, Liverpool Football Club, Q Magazine, Vice Magazine, Creation Records boss Alan McGee and the cornerstones of Liverpool’s music scene. 

Liverpool Music Week director, Mike Deane, added: "It's great to be once again hosting the GIT Award launch at Liverpool Music Week. Both organisations are dedicated to championing adventurous and exciting artists from Merseyside, reflected perfectly in our diverse GIT Award stage at this year's Music Week closing party." 

Open to all artists and bands from or based in Merseyside, the GIT Award has showcased the region’s rich musical diversity, from the thriving hip hop scene to its electronica artists, from its long-established country and roots community to punk, folk and metal. 

Getintothis editor and founder of the GIT Award, Peter Guy, said: “It's great to be back for a fourth year. The GIT Award has consistently shone a light on the first-rate music emanating from within Merseyside - and it's through the passion of the judging panel and the small but excellent team which put it together that those artists and their work are pushed to the forefront of the national music industry's consciousness. 

"I'm delighted to be teaming up with Liverpool Music Week once again for our launch party - the Award's grown beyond our wildest dreams from that small gathering back in 2011 - I'm sure Lapsley and the other musicians will provide a tremendous evening of music on November 1." 

Musicians, bands and creative types who would like to enter for this year’s prize are asked to send four tracks to gitaward@getintothis.co.uk