This Year's Queensland Music Awards Finalists Revealed

22 February 2023 | 10:00 am | Mary Varvaris

People's Choice Voting for this year's awards has officially begun.

Confidence Man, Thelma Plum & William Barton

Confidence Man, Thelma Plum & William Barton (Supplied by Queensland Music Awards)

More Thelma Plum More Thelma Plum

Today, the Queensland Music Awards finalists have been revealed, as well as the announcement that People's Choice Voting is now open. Tickets are available to attend the event on Tuesday, 28 March, at The Fortitude Music Hall.

The Music and Oztix represent the People's Choice Awards. Voting is now open and will close at midnight on Monday, 6 March 2023. 

All entries go in the draw to win a double pass to celebrate with the who’s who of Queensland music at the 2023 Queensland Music Awards on Tuesday 28 March at The Fortitude Music Hall and an overnight stay at Treasury Casino and Hotel. Voting is powered through The Music; you can access the voting portal HERE.

Leading this year's nominations are Thelma Plum, DZ Deathrays and Confidence Man. After months of deliberation by over 100 Australian and international music industry figures, the 2023 Queensland Music Awards show that across 17 categories, 74 musicians will vie for awards including Cub Sport, Mallrat, Nat Dunn, Sycco and many more. View the full finalists' list below.

For the first time, the Queensland Music Awards present a new award: voting for Queensland's Accessible Venue of the Year is now open.

"We are so incredibly proud of the last year of music in Queensland," QMusic CEO Kris Stewart said. "From epic stories of identity, like Thelma Plum’s stellar EP Meanjin or Beddy Rays’ break-neck debut album, to uplifting party-starters, like Confidence Man’s sophomore album TILT - our stories are reaching out into the world and defining what we’re made of. And it’s something special."

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Long-time judge and Head of Music at Triple-A Murri Country, Dan Rennie commented on the representation of First Nations women in this year’s finalists.

"I am so happy to see incredible First Nations artists like Thelma Plum, Sycco and Miiesha leading the nominations for the 2023 Queensland Music Awards. These women are powerful role models for the young girls of our state and their hard work and raw talent is taking them to the absolute peak of our industry," Rennie stated. 

"First Nations voice across the awards as a whole this year is really wonderful! From the talented Tristan Barton in Contemporary Classical to Thelma in Pop, and Sycco and dameeeela both in the running for the Electronic award."

To purchase tickets, visit HERE.


2023 Queensland Music Awards - Finalists 

BLUES | ROOTS AWARD 

Presented by Trentham Estate 

Darcy Kate – Blue Cascade 

Jackie Marshall - Chop Wood Carry Water

Jen Mize & The Rough N' Tumble - All Riled Up

Pat Tierney - Shadows 

CHILDREN'S MUSIC AWARD 

Presented by The Truss Company 

Blue Tac - Jump In The Pool 

Cheeky Monkey Club - Yes or No - A Song About Consent

Spotty Kites, Donna Dyson - Walk Around Wednesday

The Mini Moshers - Waterslide

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL AWARD 

Presented by Queensland Conservatorium – Griffith University 

Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Tenzin Choegyal & Katherine Philp - Dolma 

Monique Clare - Downhill Skiing

Nonsemble - ‘Argentavis

Tristan Barton - In Time

COUNTRY AWARD 

Presented by ABC Brisbane 

Casey Barnes - Small Town

James Johnston - COUNTRY BOYS 

Sammy White - Love On The Line

Taylor Moss - What Am I Gonna Do?

ELECTRONIC AWARD 

Presented by The Prince Consort 

Confidence Man - Luvin U Is Easy

dameeeela - The Shake Up

Nat Dunn - State Of My Heart

Sycco - Ripple

FOLK AWARD 

Presented by APRA AMCOS 

Freight Train Foxes - Fly to You

Greta Stanley - Keep My Cool 

Miranda vs Arizona - Changin'

Yb. - Blackphemy

HEAVY AWARD 

Presented by IJS 

Citadel - Malignant

DZ Deathrays - Paranoid

Greshka - FREEDOM FROM CLIVE

The Atomic Beau Project - GHOSTS

HIP HOP AWARD 

Presented by NAFA 

Day1 - MBAPPE

JESSWAR - WAVES

Khi'leb - Cheques

Siala - Blackout

INDIGENOUS AWARD 

Presented by Anacta 

Beddy Rays - Handful

Sunny Luwe - Double Shot

William Barton - Kalkani

Tjaka - Break It Down

JAZZ AWARD 

Presented by Jazz Music Institute 

Angela Newcomb - Last Evening

Sophie Min - Wind and the End 

The Dawn Light - The Moon Was Low

Trichotomy - Forward Motion

POP AWARD 

Presented by Star Entertainment Group 

Asha Jefferies - Tank Tops

Cub Sport - Always Got The Love

Mallrat - Surprise Me (feat. Azealia Banks)

Thelma Plum - Backseat Of My Mind

ROCK AWARD 

Presented by Comiskey Group 

Eliza & The Delusionals - Give You Everything

Hope D - Emerald 

WAAX - No Doz

Yb. - Sandra

YOUTH (AGES 10 – 17) AWARD 

Presented by SAE 

Amy Elise - Kind Of Insane

FELONY - Anything To Feel Anything

Lily Grace - The Two Of Us Meet

Lottie McLeod - Happy Birthday

SOUL | FUNK | RNB AWARD 

Presented by The Sound Garden 

Beckah Amani - Waiting on You

Jordan Briton - Lights Out Feat: Roman MC 

Miiesha - Still Dream

Pink Matter - Can't Start 

WORLD AWARD 

Presented by MEAA 

Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Tenzin Choegyal & Katherine Philp - Wo La So

Future Destin - MALANGA

Innessa - Perekati-pole

mou and Menaka Thomas - Space

REGIONAL | REGIONAL AWARD 

Presented by Telstra 

Greta Stanley - Red Earth Dirt

High Tropics - Bipolar Disaster

Miiesha - Everything

Sahara Beck - Nothing Wrong With That

VIDEO AWARD 

Presented by Creative Productions 

Ben Wrigley - Purple Static by Mirrors 

Deena Lynch - Cut by Jaguar Jonze 

Maeve McKenna & James Greville - Emerald by Hope D 

PEOPLE’S CHOICE NOMINEES 

METRO VENUE OF THE YEAR 

Presented by Oztix and The Music 

Miami Marketta 

The Fortitude Music Hall 

The Princess Theatre 

The Tivoli 

The Triffid 

Warehouse 25 

REGIONAL VENUE OF THE YEAR 

Presented by Oztix and The Music 

Tanks Arts Centre 

Solbar 

Eleven 

FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR 

Presented by Oztix and The Music 

Airlie Beach Festival of Music 

Buskers by the Lake 

Caloundra Music Festival 

GRAIN’s Birthday Weekender 

Gympie Music Muster

NOOSA alive! 

Mountain Goat Valley Crawl 

SPRINGTIME 

Yonder Festival 

MAJOR AWARDS – WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT THE QUEENSLAND MUSIC AWARDS 

SONG OF THE YEAR 

Presented by Brick Lane Brewing 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

Presented by Brisbane City Council 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

Presented by Grant Thornton