Qulture Magazine

Words: Laura M Ross

The Scottish Album of The Year Awards are an annual celebration of Scottish music at its best. Produced by the SMIA (Scottish Music Industry Association) they say they aim to:

– ” Enrich Scotland’s cultural identity by recognising, rewarding and championing the strength and diversity of Scotland’s recorded output; past, present and future.

– Stimulate a national focus on music by providing an annual focal point to celebrate it; driving audiences, instilling civic pride and increasing cultural confidence.

– Inspire the listening, learning, playing and creation of music, especially by young people, to ensure the continued vibrancy of Scottish music both now and in the future.

– Enhance the profile, reputation and credibility of Scotland’s artists and music industry; both domestically and internationally.” With the aim of strengthening and increasing the value of Scotland’s music industry on the global stage: economically, socially and culturally.

The great thing about the SAYAs is the fact that they don’t base nominations or awards on an artist’s ability to prove they are with a record label, how many followers they have on socials or any other stats that don’t actually contribute towards their value or contribution to the Scottish music scene. Instead the focus is on an artist’s merit. The award also doesn’t single out one particular genre of music but in previous years hip-hop, rock, alternative, traditional, folk, classical, dubstep, reggae, pop and jazz have all been represented.

The prize awarded to the winner of the SAY award is a whopping £20,000, which artists can use towards any costs they might have during the creation of new music, finishing that album they might be working on and a multitude of different things. It’s a lifeline amount for many artists in the industry, but runners up are also given £1000 each. There is also a Sound of Young Scotland Award, won by the fabulous Alice Faye in 2025 and Modern Scottish Classic Award which was picked up by KT Tunstall last year.

We, at Qulture Magazine were proud to be part of the nomination process (as part of our membership with SMIA and their Scottish Music EDIA Manifesto and Action Framework) and among 100 nominators from across the sector in Scotland, including journalism, broadcast and radio, music retail and live music venues. The process includes being “invited to consider the titles from the Eligible Albums list and nominate five favourite albums in order of preference. The SMIA assigns a score to each title in a Nominator’s Top 5 (#1 – 10 points, #2 – 8 points, #3 – 6 points etc.), before announcing the 20 highest scoring albums as The SAY Award Longlist.” – SAY

This year there were over 303 eligible album submissions this year, which was whittled down to just 20, all now in the running for the SAY Award and prize at this year’s ceremony taking place at Caird Hall in Dundee on 5th November 2026.

The SAY Longlist of albums for 2026 is a great mixture of genres from across Scotland’s most talented musicians/artists:

Admiral Fallow – First Of The Birds
Andrew Wasylyk – Irreparable Parables
Barry Can’t Swim – Loner
Biffy Clyro – Futique
Boards of Canada – Inferno
Brìghde Chaimbeul – Sunwise
Brògeal – Tuesday Paper Club
Emma Pollock – Begging The Night To Take Hold
Fergus McCreadie – The Shieling
Heir of the Cursed – Heir of the Cursed
Hen Hoose – Collective The Twelve
Michael McGovern – Thin White Road
Pippa Blundell – common thread
Sian – araon
Sonedo–  From Here On Out
Swim School– Swim School
The Twilight Sad – IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE
Vagrant Real Estate – Neither Collar Nor Crown
Valtos – The Last Light
VLURE – ESCALATE

We wish every single nominee the best of luck and want to say a huge well done to all for their outstanding and continued contribution to Scotland’s Music Scene.

Watch this space for our coverage at this year’s awards!