This year’s APRA Silver Scroll Awards in New Zealand are starting to take shape with the nominations now in for the specialist categories and the main shortlist set to be announced next week.

APRA AMCOS NZ has just announced the finalists for the 2018 SOUNZ Contemporary Award, which celebrates excellence in composition, along with the nominees for the best original music in the film and television categories.

The nominees for the APRA Maioha award –which honours excellence in popular Māori composition – will be unveiled on Monday (August 27), while the top five contenders for the main Silver Scroll Prize will be announced on August 30. All the winners of this year’s awards will be revealed at a ceremony at Spark Arena in Auckland on October 4.

In the television category, an Australian TV production features among the nominations with Luke Buda, Samuel Scott and Conrad Wedde – best known for their work with The Phoenix Foundation – nabbing a nomination for their music for Cleverman.

Watch the series 2 trailer for Cleverman below:

They will be up against former Supergroove frontman Karl Steven, who has been nominated for his soundtrack for the TVNZ series Dear Murderer, and first time nominee Matt Caradus, who has been shortlisted for his work on the teen sci-fi show The Cul de Sac.

There are also a few familiar faces in the film category with Sean Donnelly – aka SJD – earning a nod for the documentary The Free Man, and David Long (The Mutton Birds) nominated for McLaren. Rounding off the list is soundtrack specialist Stephen Gallagher for the thriller Human Traces.

Meanwhile, the nominees for SOUNZ Contemporary Award are: Leonie Holmes for ‘Dance of the Wintersmith’, Rosie Langabeer for ‘Occulmente’ and Michael Norris for ‘Sygyt’.

The finalists were selected by a judging panel of independent industry representatives, including an international composer representative, US-based NZ expat Annea Lockwood.

Last year’s Silver Scroll Awards were notable for the fact that the five final short-listed artists were all women. This year, around half of the 20-strong long-list is made up of either female artists, with the nominees including the likes of Tami Neilson, Chelsea Jade, Holly Arrowsmith, Julia Deans and Lisa Crawley.

More info on the nominees here.

Watch Chelsea Jade’s clip for ‘Laugh It Off’ below: