With just over 8 weeks to go, the longlists for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize have been revealed.

Once again set to be a closing highlight of this year’s Sound of Belfast programme, this year’s prize returns to the Ulster Hall on Wednesday, 13th November, to recognise the diverse wealth of new music released in our UNESCO City of Belfast and right across Northern Ireland over the last twelve months.

Almost a year on from Arborist worthily scooping the same prize for An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, the longlist for this year’s Album of the Year prize is a suitably palette-spanning affair, with Exmagician, Anthony Toner, Blue Whale, Kaidi Tatham, TRÚ, Ex-Isles, and Problem Patterns among the thirty acts to have made the cut.

In the Single of the Year category, tracks by artists including Conn Thornton, Hypnic Jerk, Jordan Adetunji, and Sasha Samara are among many highlights, while 2023 winners Chalk will aim to retain their Live Act of the Year status, with stiff competition from artists including Amy Montgomery, Stratford Rise, Dea Matrona, Winnie Ama and more.

Explore this year’s full longlists – including Music Video of the Year – and buy the last remaining tickets to this year’s prize over at the NI Music Prize website.