Nordic Music Prize

The Nordic Music Prize is an annual award for the Best Nordic Album Of The Year, inspired by the Mercury Prize and introduced in 2010. The prize was initiated by the by:Larm conference in Norway. The first Nordic Music Prize was presented by the Prince Of Norway during by:Larm in Oslo in February 2011.

The prize was created to create a stronger unity across the Nordic countries industry, to increase international interest and awareness of what the region has to offer musically and, to refocus on the full-length album as an art form.

The winner is decided by a selection involving each Nordic country’s domestic recording industry, that lead to representatives converging on Oslo with a list of ten albums from their nation, and these are then whittled down to 12 final nominations. The final choice is made by a jury headed by Andres Lokko and composed of international journalists and label people.

Jury

Nordic folk music

Nordic folk music includes a number of traditions in Northern European, especially Scandinavian, countries. The Nordic countries are generally taken to include Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. The Nordic Council, an international organization, also includes the autonomous territories of Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Historically, the term Nordic was also applied to Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The many regions of the Nordic countries share certain traditions, many of which have diverged significantly. It is possible to group together the Baltic states and parts of northwest Russia as sharing cultural similarities, contrasted with Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Atlantic islands of Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Greenland's Inuit culture has its own musical traditions, influenced by Scandinavian culture. Finland shares many cultural similarities with both the Baltic nations and the Scandinavian nations. The Saami of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia have their own unique culture, with ties to the neighboring cultures.