This year’s Music Victoria Awards were held in Melbourne last night (December 13), with the biggest winners including Baker Boy, Julia Jacklin, Emma Donovan and Alice Ivy.
Baker Boy reigned supreme at the event, taking home three of the four awards he was nominated for: Best Album (for his recent debut ‘Gela’), Best Song (for its single ‘Survive’) and Best Regional Act. Jacklin beat him out for the title of Best Solo Artist, while Donovan and her longstanding backing band, The Putbacks, won Best Group. Ivy, meanwhile, scored the gong for Best Producer.
In the genre-specific categories, Checkerboard Lounge won Best Blues Work, while Georgia State Line topped the equivalent category for country artists, and Harvey Sutherland for electronic. The Amplified Elephants won Best Experimental/Avant Garde work, with Kerryn Fields winning for folk, Outright for heavy, MAMMOTH. and Silent Jay for hip-hop and Barney McAll for jazz. The Stroppies won in the pop category, with JahWise for reggae/dancehall, Pinch Points for rock/punk, and Mo’Ju for soul/funk/R&B/gospel.
Additionally, this year’s Arts Access Amplify Award (for D/deaf and disabled artists) went to Evelyn Ida Morris, the Archie Roach Foundation Award For Emerging Talent went to Bumpy, and the MAV Diasporas Award went to Charles Maimarosia. The award for Best DJ also offered the night’s only tie, with both MzRizk and Jennifer Loveless taking out the title.
This year’s event saw three new inductees honoured in the Music Victoria Awards’ Hall of Fame: Xani Colac (as the overall Best Musician), Deborah Conway, and Bakehouse Studios founders Helen Marcou and Ian McLean.
As for the awards centred on live music events, winners included the Brunswick Music Festival (for Best Metro Festival), Port Fairy Folk Festival (Best Regional Festival), the Forum in Melbourne (Best Large Venue, Metro), the Brunswick Ballroom (Best Small Venue, Metro), the Caravan Music Club in Archies Creek (Best Regional Venue, Established) and the Daylesford Hotel (Best Regional Venue, Under 50 Gigs Per Year).
The full list of winners at the 2022 Music Victoria Awards is:
BEST ALBUM
Baker Boy – ‘Gela’ // WINNER
Harvey Sutherland – ‘Boy’
JAZZPARTY – ‘Nobody Gets Away’
Kerryn Fields – ‘Water’
thndo – ‘Life In Colour’
BEST SONG
Baker Boy – ‘Survive’ // WINNER
Black Cab – ‘Rotsler’s Rules’
Courtney Barnett – ‘Rae Street’
GUTHRIE – ‘Dickhead Song’
Julia Jacklin – ‘Lydia Wears A Cross’
BEST GROUP
Camp Cope
Dorsal Fins
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks // WINNER
Ramona Sky
Telenova
BEST SOLO ARTIST
Baker Boy
IJALE
Julia Jacklin // WINNER
Kerryn Fields
Mo’Ju
BEST DJ
Jennifer Loveless // WINNER
Memphis LK // WINNER
MzRizk
Reptant
Simon TK
BEST REGIONAL ACT
Alice Skye
Baker Boy // WINNER
Bones and Jones
DEAD
Jess Parker
BEST METRO FESTIVAL
Brunswick Music Festival (Wurundjeri) // WINNER
Melbourne Music Week (Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung)
Peninsula Summer Music Festival (Boonwurrung)
Reunion Park (Wurundjeri)
RISING (Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung)
BEST REGIONAL FESTIVAL
CresFest in Creswick (Dja Dja Wurrung)
Meadow in Bambra (Gulidjan, Gadubanud and Wadawurrung)
OK Motels in Charlton (Dja Dja Wurrung)
Port Fairy Folk Festival (Gunditjmara) // WINNER
Riverboats Music Festival in Echuca-Moama (Yorta Yorta)
BEST LARGE VENUE (METRO)
Forum Melbourne (Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung) // WINNER
Melbourne Recital Centre (Wurundjeri)
Palais Theatre (Boonwurrung)
Sidney Myer Music Bowl (Wurundjeri)
The Night Cat (Wurundjeri)
BEST SMALL VENUE (METRO)
Brunswick Ballroom (Wurundjeri) // WINNER
Northcote Social Club (Wurundjeri)
Shotkickers – Thornbury (Wurundjeri)
The Gasometer Hotel – Collingwood (Wurundjeri)
The Jazzlab – Brunswick (Wurundjeri)
BEST REGIONAL VENUE/PRESENTER (ESTABLISHED)
Caravan Music Club in Archies Creek (Boonwurrung) // WINNER
Palais Hepburn (Dja Dja Wurrung)
The Barwon Club Hotel in Geelong (Wadawurrung)
The Taproom – Shedshaker Brewing in Castlemaine (Dja Dja Wurrung)
Theatre Royal Castlemaine (Dja Dja Wurrung)
BEST REGIONAL VENUE/PRESENTER (UNDER 50 GIGS PER YEAR)
Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute – Minerva (Wadawurrung)
Daylesford Hotel (Dja Dja Wurrung) // WINNER
Golden Vine Hotel – Bendigo (Dja Dja Wurrung)
Hotel Warrnambool (Peek Whurrong)
Music On The Hill (MOTH) – Mornington Peninsula (Boonwurrung)
ARTS ACCESS AMPLIFY AWARD
Batts
Between Mirrors
Evelyn Ida Morris // WINNER
Nat Bartsch
Saint Ergo
BEST BLUES WORK
Checkerboard Lounge // WINNER
Damon Smith
High Ace
The Black Sorrows
The McNamarr Project
BEST ELECTRONIC WORK
Harvey Sutherland // WINNER
OK EG
Papaphilia
Puscha
Various Asses
BEST FOLK WORK
Above The Bit
Austral
Charm Of Finches
Kerryn Fields // WINNER
Ruby Gill
BEST HIP-HOP WORK
Jaal
Nomad
MAMMOTH. and Silent Jay // WINNER
SO.Crates
Yung Shōgun
BEST POP WORK
Confidence Man
June Jones
Mug
Telenova
The Stroppies // WINNER
BEST ROCK/PUNK WORK
Dr. Sure’s Unusual Practice
Pinch Points // WINNER
Jaala
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
MAV DIASPORAS AWARD
Ajak Kwai
Black Jesus Experience
Charles Maimarosia // WINNER
Hand To Earth
Vanessa Estrada
THE ARCHIE ROACH FOUNDATION AWARD FOR EMERGING TALENT
Bumpy // WINNER
Carissa Nyalu
Jess Hitchcock
MpathSoul – Monica Jasmine Karo
Pirritu
BEST COUNTRY WORK
Georgia State Line // WINNER
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes
Michael Waugh
Sherry Rich
The Weeping Willows
BEST EXPERIMENTAL ACT OR AVANT-GARDE WORK
Cat Hope
Female Wizard
Nina Buchanan
Rama Parwata
The Amplified Elephants // WINNER
BEST HEAVY WORK
Diploid
ISUA
Jalang
Outright // WINNER
Rinuwat
BEST JAZZ WORK
Barney McAll // WINNER
Claire Cross
Johannes Luebbers Dectet
Peter Knight
Sam Anning
BEST REGGAE/DANCEHALL WORK
Jah Tung
JahWise // WINNER
Nicky Bomba
Shottaz
BEST SOUL, FUNK, R&B AND GOSPEL WORK
Kutcha Edwards
Lance Ferguson
Mo’Ju // WINNER
Nikodimos
Zretro
BEST PRODUCER
Alice Ivy // WINNER
Gab Strum
Oscar Dawson
Stuart Mackenzie
Tim Shiel