APRA Announce Finalists For Professional Development Awards

APRA have announced the 35 finalists for 2015's Professional Development Awards (PDAs) today, with soul songstress Ngaiire, blues rocker Marlon Williams, country songbird Ruby Boots and many other deserving names going up against each other this November.

Australasian composers and songwriters across categories such as Popular Contemporary, Jazz, Film & Television and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) will be awarded eight awards, each receiving a cash prize of $15,000 along with other goods.

Other names you'll recognise this year include L-FRESH the Lion, Jack Carty, both Oscar Dawson and Tim Carroll of Holy Holy, Adam Briggs and Adam Eckersley.

Past winners of the biennial awards include Gotye, Morgan Evans and Husky Gawenda, though this year there's a new award — the Indigenous Music and Media Award from the Smugglers Of Light foundation, set up in memory of Eli Westlake. The winner of this award will pick up a cash grant of $12,000.

Check out the full list of finalists below, to be announced on Tuesday, 24 November.