2013 Australian Jazz Bell Awards to be Held May 2

Nominations are now open for the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell Awards which will be announced at a prestigious awards ceremony on Thursday 2th May 2013 at The Plaza Ballroom, Regent Theatre in Melbourne.

The Australian Jazz Bell Awards are considered to be the Australian jazz industry's most honoured and respected awards as they continue to recognise and encourage excellence in performance, creativity, recording and presentation.

Nominations will close on Wednesday 13 February for the 2013 Australian Jazz Bell Awards
Nomination form and guidelines can be downloaded from www.bellawards.org

'The Bells' acknowledge and encourage excellence in the performance, creativity, recording and presentation of jazz in Australia across 8 categories, with a $5,000 prize for the winner of each one. They are widely recognised as the Australian Jazz industry's most respected and highly anticipated awards.

Mr Albert Dadon AM Chairman and Founder of the Awards said "This will be our 11th Jazz Bell awards and one of great significance. The awards are named after one of Australia's most respected and talented jazz musicians, Graeme Bell MBE, AO, who passed away in 2012. We look forward to paying tribute to this outstanding jazz musician at the awards ceremony in 2013.

The annual awards are a great opportunity for all artists to be recognised in the vibrant Australian Jazz scene for achievements across all categories of jazz.

The judging panel is selected from the Australian and International Jazz scene and is a diverse group of jazz specialists. The selection ensures a night of anticipation for our nominees as such a varied group of judges can lead to some unexpected results.

The Awards categories which share a prize pool of $40,000 - $5,000 per category - are:

· Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album
· Most Original Australian Jazz Album - new category
· Best Australian Contemporary Jazz Album
· Best Australian Traditional Jazz Album
· Best Australian Jazz Song of the Year
· Best Australian Jazz Ensemble
· Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year
· Graeme Bell Hall of Fame - in recognition of an outstanding career