OBSERVER: Australian Music Prize
The winner has been announced for the 21st SoundMerch Australian Music Prize, described as ‘Australia’s most prestigious award recognising and honouring the creative accomplishments of Australian musicians’.
This year’s winner is Ninajirachi with ‘I Love My Computer’.
Ninajirachi has been awarded $50,000 prize money and joins previous winners including Kankawa Nagarra (2024), RVG (2023), King Stingray (2022), Genesis Owusu (2021) and The Avalanches (2020).
The prize is widely recognised as the most prestigious award for Australian recording artists and Australia’s most coveted accolade in the music community.
Ninajirachi exploded on the Australian music scene this year with her hard-driving electronic precursor to her winning album ‘I Love My Computer’.
Hailing from the Central Coast, Ninajirachi has been making music for over a decade and drew attention from the industry with her track ‘Glass’, one of the Unearthed High finalists.
‘I Love My Computer’ includes catchy, glitchy, sweet yet explosive tunes, including ‘iPod Touch’, ‘Delete’ and ‘All I Am’, which have garnered millions of streams across platforms.
She has a tour kicking off at the end of November across Australia, New Zealand and the USA where she is set to play Coachella. With eight ARIA Award nominations, Ninajirachi can now add 21st SoundMerch Australian Music Prize winner to her fast-growing accolades.
“Thank you so much to the Australian music prize for awarding me this year, this truly means a lot to me,” says Ninajirachi.
“I’m so proud to have produced an Australian album. I Love My Computer drew from my growing up on the central coast and the Australian dance music I heard in my childhood.
“To sincerely contribute to the awesome story of Australian music was one of my highest hopes. I hope I can keep making albums and telling stories forever. Thank you so much, I’m so honoured to receive this award.”
The AMP works via a three-stage judging system with a panel of established musicians, music retailers and music media listening to every eligible album.
Each judge must agree to listen to randomly assigned albums, in full, at least once before filing a judgment. They must also agree to notify AMP administration of any personal and/or business connections to the artists who have eligible albums.
In stage two, the panel of judges listens to the nominated albums and works with the Prize Director to determine which albums will form the Shortlist (nine albums). Finally, in stage 3, the panel of judges meet, face-to-face, to decide on one winner.
Launched in 2005, The AMP celebrates a milestone of existing to discover, reward and promote new Australian music of excellence.
australianmusicprize.com.au
Cheyl Threadgold
Pictured: Ninajirachi, winner of the 21st SoundMerch Australian Music Prize.