The shortlist for this year’s Silver Scroll award has been announced – featuring for the first time in its 52-year history, an exclusively female lineup.



The coveted prize, which celebrates excellence in songwriting in New Zealand, has revealed that all the nominated artists are women: this includes global pop star Lorde, who gets a nod for her track Green Light; as well as Bic Runga for her song Close Your Eyes; Aldous Harding for Horizon; Chelsea Jade for Life of the Party; and Nadia Reid for Richard.

The winner of the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll award is set to announced on the 28 September. Previous artists who have triumphed include the Naked and Famous, Neil Finn, Shona Laing, Dave Dobbyn, Chris Knox and Brooke Fraser.

While gender diversity has been on the agenda in recent months – with MTV becoming the first mainstream film and TV awards to take on gender-neutral performance categories – this year’s shortlist for the Silver Scroll awards is believed to be the first of its kind in the music industry.