# Scottish Album of the Year Award

The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is an award given annually for an outstanding album produced by a Scottish artist. The award was launched in 2012 by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) in partnership with Creative Scotland. The winner receives a £20,000 prize and the nine shortlisted artists receive £1,000.

## Process

Once all eligible albums have been collated, 100 impartial 'Nominators', chosen from sectors including journalism, broadcast and radio, music retail and live music venues, will consider the titles from The SAY Award's Eligible Albums list, nominating their five favourite albums and ranking them in order of preference. 'Nominators' include specialists in a variety of genres, such as jazz, classical, electronic and traditional folk, as well as key influencers from elsewhere in the arts, and cannot have a commercial interest in any of the albums being discussed. The SMIA assigns a score to each title in a Nominator's Top 5, before announcing the 20 highest scoring albums as The SAY Award Longlist.
The Longlist is then whittled down to a Shortlist of 10 albums, one of which will be chosen by music fans via an online public vote and the others decided by the SAY Award judging panel. Previous judges have included the composer Craig Armstrong, Turner Prize-winning artists Douglas Gordon and Susan Philipsz, filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, music editor of The Skinny Tallah Brash, DJ and promoter Sarra Wild, Edinburgh International Festival director Fergus Linehan, Sub Club partner/director Barry Price, and Scottish Ballet's Sophie Laplane.
The SAY Award Shortlist is then honoured at an exclusive ceremony, with each title receiving an award created by The SAY Award Design Commission winner and a minimum of £1,000. The SAY Award judging panel reconvene for the ceremony and decide who picks up the £20,000 first prize and coveted title of Scottish Album of the Year.

## Past winners

| Year | Winner | Shortlist | Longlist | Ref. |
| 2012 | Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat – Everything's Getting Older | Conquering Animal Sound – Kammerspiel Happy Particles – Under Sleeping Waves King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will Mungo's Hi Fi – Forward Ever Remember Remember – The Quickening Rustie – Glass Swords Tommy Smith – Karma Twin Atlantic – Free | 6th Borough Project – One Night in the Borough Bwani Junction – Fully Cocked Chris Stout – Brazilian Theory Found – factorycraft Fudge Fingas – Now About How Jonny – Jonny Muscles of Joy – Muscles of Joy Richard Craig – Inward Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell – Ghosts Outside We Were Promised Jetpacks – In the Pit of the Stomach | [4] [5] |
| 2013 | RM Hubbert – Thirteen Lost & Found | Admiral Fallow – Tree Bursts in Snow Django Django – Django Django Human Don't Be Angry – Human Don't Be Angry Karine Polwart – Traces Lau – Race the Loser Meursault – Something for the Weakened Paul Buchanan – Mid-Air Stanley Odd – Reject The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know | Auntie Flo – Future Rhythm Machine Calvin Harris – 18 Months Dam Mantle – Brothers Fowl Duncan Chisholm – Affric Emeli Sandé – Our Version of Events Errors – Have Some Faith in Magic Konrad Wiszniewski & Euan Stevenson – New Focus Miaoux Miaoux – Light of the North Paws – Cokefloat! The Unwinding Hours – Afterlives | [6] [7] |
| 2014 | Young Fathers – Tape Two | Biffy Clyro – Opposites Boards of Canada – Tomorrow's Harvest Chvrches – The Bones of What You Believe Edwyn Collins – Understated Hector Bizerk – Nobody Seen Nothing RM Hubbert – Breaks & Bone Steve Mason – Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time Mogwai – Les Revenants The Pastels – Slow Summits | Adam Holmes – Heirs and Graces Adam Stafford – Imaginary Walls Collapse Camera Obscura – Desire Lines Dunedin Consort – J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse Kid Canaveral – Now That You Are a Dancer Rick Redbeard – No Selfish Heart Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire – Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire Scottish Chamber Orchestra – Berlioz: Les Nuit D'été Scottish National Jazz Orchestra – In the Spirit of Duke | [8] [9] |
| 2015 | Kathryn Joseph – Bones You Have Thrown Me, and Blood I've Spilled. | Belle & Sebastian – Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance Errors – Lease of Life Happy Meals – Apero Honeyblood – Honeyblood Paolo Nutini – Caustic Love Paws – Youth Culture Forever Slam – Reverse Proceed The Amazing Snakeheads – Amphetamine Ballads Young Fathers – Dead | Blue Rose Code – The Ballads of Peckham Rye Fatherson – I Am an Island Idlewild – Everything Ever Written King Creosote – From Scotland with Love Mike Vass – In the Wake of Neil Gunn Mogwai – Rave Tapes The Phantom Band – Strange Friend The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave Treacherous Orchestra – Grind Withered Hand – New Gods | |
| 2016 | Anna Meredith – Varmints | Auntie Flo – Theory of Flo C Duncan – Architect Chvrches – Every Open Eye Emma Pollock – In Search of Harperfield FFS – FFS Lau – The Bell That Never Rang Steve Mason – Meet the Humans The Revenge – Love That Will Not Die Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men Too | Admiral Fallow – Tiny Rewards Django Django – Born Under Saturn Dunedin Consort – Bach Magnificat Hector Bizerk – The Waltz of Modern Psychiatry Hudson Mohawke – Lantern Iain Morrison – Eas Jarlath Henderson – Hearts Broken, Heads Turned Miaoux Miaoux – School of Velocity Primal Scream – Chaosmosis Rachel Sermanni – Tied to the Moon | |
| 2017 | Sacred Paws – Strike a Match | C Duncan – The Midnight Sun Ela Orleans – Circles of Upper and Lower Hell Honeyblood – Babes Never Die Konx-Om-Pax – Caramel Meursault – I Will Kill Again Mogwai – Atomic Pictish Trail – Future Echoes Rachel Newton – Here's My Heart Come Take It | Adam Holmes and The Embers – Brighter Still Frightened Rabbit – Painting of a Panic Attack Fatherson – Open Book King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman Modern Studies – Swell to Great Starless – Starless Teenage Fanclub – Here TeenCanteen – Say It All With a Kiss The Jesus and Mary Chain – Damage and Joy Vukovi – Vukovi | [12] [13] |
| 2018 | Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar | Babe – Kiss & Tell Best Girl Athlete – Best Girl Athlete Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending Golden Teacher – No Luscious Life Karine Polwart with Pippa Murphy – A Pocket of Wind Resistance Kobi Onyame – Gold Mogwai – Every Country's Sun Out Lines – Conflats Siobhan Wilson – There Are No Saints | Adam Holmes and the Embers – Midnight Milk Blue Rose Code – The Water of Leith Catholic Action – In Memory Of Chris Stout & Catriona McKay – Bare Knuckle Elephant Sessions – All We Have Is Now Happy Meals – Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony (Volumes IV – VI) Martha Ffion – Sunday Best Neon Waltz – Strange Hymns Pronto Mama – Any Joy The Spook School – Could It Be Different? | |
| 2019 | Auntie Flo – Radio Highlife | Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert – Here Lies the Body Andrew Wasylyk – The Paralian C Duncan – Health Carla J. Easton – Impossible Stuff Fergus McCreadie Trio – Turas Free Love – Luxury Hits Karine Polwart with Steven Polwart and Inge Thomson – Laws of Motion Kathryn Joseph – From When I Wake the Want Is Mastersystem – Dance Music | Aidan O'Rourke – 365: Volume One Brìghde Chaimbeul – The Reeling Chvrches – Love Is Dead Edwyn Collins – Badbea Fatherson – Sum of All Your Parts Graham Costello's Strata – Obelisk Kinnaris Quintet – Free One Niteworks – Air Fàir An Là Sean Shibe – softLOUD The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All the Time | [15] [16] |
| 2020 | Nova – Re-Up | Blanck Mass – Animated Violence Mild Bossy Love – Me + U Callum Easter – Here or Nowhere Cloth – Cloth Comfort – Not Passing Declan Welsh and the Decadent West – Cheaply Bought, Expensively Sold Erland Cooper – Sule Skerry The Ninth Wave – Infancy SHHE – SHHE | Anna Meredith – Fibs Elephant Sessions – What Makes You Fat-Suit – Waifs & Strays Free Love – Extreme Dance Anthems Honeyblood – In Plain Sight Karine Polwart – Karine Polwart's Scottish Songbook Lewis Capaldi – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent Mezcla – Shoot the Moon Sacred Paws – Run Around the Sun Vistas – Everything Changes in the End | [18] [19] [20] |
| 2021 | Mogwai – As the Love Continues | AiiTee – Love Don't Fall Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark Biffy Clyro – A Celebration of Endings Joesef – Does It Make You Feel Good? Lizzie Reid – Cubicle Rachel Newton – To the Awe Stanley Odd – Stay Odd: The Magic of Everyday Things The Ninth Wave – Happy Days! The Snuts – W.L. | Andrew Wasylyk – Fugitive Light and Themes of Consolation Bemz – Saint of Lost Causes Carla J. Easton – Weirdo Erland Cooper – Landform ft. Marta Salogni Fergus McCreadie – Cairn Jenny Sturgeon – The Living Mountain Kubler-Ross – Kubler-Ross Matt Carmichael – Where Will the River Flow? Paul Towndrow – Deepening the River Taahliah – Angelica | |
| 2022 | Fergus McCreadie – Forest Floor | AiiTee – Better Days Constant Follower – Neither Is, Nor Ever Was Hamish Hawk – Heavy Elevator Hen Hoose – Equaliser Kathryn Joseph – For You Who Are the Wronged Kobi Onyame – Don't Drink the Poison Niteworks – A'Ghrian Proc Fiskal – Siren Spine Sysex Walt Disco – Unlearning | Andrew Wasylyk – Balgay Hill: Morning in Magnolia Annie Booth – Lazybody Bemz – M4 C Duncan – Alluvium Callum Easter – System Declan Welsh and the Decadent West – It's Been a Year Duncan Lyall – Milestone The Ninth Wave – Heavy Like a Headache Rebecca Vasmant – With Love, From Glasgow Seonaid Aitken Ensemble – Chasing Sakura | [23] [24] |
| 2023 | Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy | Andrew Wasylyk – Hearing the Water Before Seeing the Falls Becky Sikasa – Twelve Wooden Boxes Bemz – Nova's Dad Brìghde Chaimbeul – Carry Them With Us Brooke Combe – Black Is the New Gold Cloth – Secret Measure Hamish Hawk – Angel Numbers Joesef – Permanent Damage Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet | Brownbear – Demons Comfort – What's Bad Enough? Eyes of Others – Eyes of Others Free Love – Inside Juliette Lemoine – Soaring Kapil Seshasayee – Laal Lvra – Soft Like Steel Scott William Urquhart & Constant Follower – Even Days Dissolve Su-a Lee – Dialogues The Snuts – Burn the Empire | [25] [26] [27] |
| 2024 | Redolent – Dinny Greet | Arab Strap – I'm Totally Fine with It Don't Give a Fuck Anymore Barry Can't Swim – When Will We Land? Becky Sikasa – The Writings and the Pictures and the Song Corto.alto – Bad With Names Dead Pony – Ignore This Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand – Willson Williams Lucia & the Best Boys – Burning Castles Rachel Sermanni – Dreamer Awake Theo Bleak – Pain | Afterlands – We Are the Animals in the Night Amy Laurenson – Strands Bee Asha – Goodbye, Gracious Blue Rose Code – Bright Circumstance Broken Chanter – Chorus of Doubt Empire State Bastard – Rivers of Heresy Fergus McCreadie – Stream Malin Lewis – Halocline Mama Terra – The Summoned The Snuts – Millennials | [28] [29] [30] |