Professional Development Awards

Yes, as long as you have their permission to do so, and at least 33.3% of the song was written by a New Zealand APRA member.

In certain cases yes.

In regard to the APRA Silver Scroll Award – only one work may be submitted by or on behalf of any one writer, except in the case of co-written songs, where a writer may be included in entries for each separate writer/band/artist that they collaborate with.

In regard to the APRA Maioha and SOUNZ Contemporary Award – a maximum of two works may be submitted by or on behalf of any one writer, except in the case of co-written works, where a writer may be included in entries for each separate writer/band/artist that they collaborate with.

In regard to the APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film or Series awards – a maximum of three entries may be submitted by or on behalf of any one writer.

A separate entry form is to be completed for each work submitted.

The short answer is yes. You can enter the same song for the Silver Scroll Award as well as the Maioha Award, or you can enter different songs in each category.

While it is unlikely that a work which is eligible for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha will also be eligible in other categories, there are no rules which explicitly prevent the work from being entered in other categories also.

In regards to the Screen Awards, the music must have been written specifically for inclusion in the feature film or series entered.

The Awards are not intended for recording purposes – please consider this before applying.

No. The Awards are intended to develop your skills as a songwriter or composer, not to pay for professional services to promote your work.

As an APRA AMCOS Member you can apply for either – dependant on where you are a legal resident. As an example: To enter the New Zealand 2021 PDAs, you must be a citizen or a legal resident in New Zealand for a minimum of 2years on 1 July 2021.

If you are not already an APRA member, you can apply to become an APRA member in order to enter your work. Our member services team are happy to help you with this.

No, not at all. All categories in the APRA Silver Scroll Awards are judged solely on the artistic and creative merits of the song.

For the APRA Maioha Award, SOUNZ Contemporary Award | Te Tohu Auaha, and Screen Awards, we assemble a judging panel of fellow members who have expertise or experience in each respective category. The names of these judges are published each year. They take time to consider all entries and create their own shortlist before coming together to discuss which entries will become finalists and winners.

For the APRA Silver Scroll Award, we assemble a panel of ten APRA members/songwriters as our initial judging panel. They listen to all the entries (often more than 200 songs) and create a shortlist, before we hold a panel meeting to decide on the top 20 songs. The names of these judges are also published each year.

All APRA members are then invited to listen to these top 20 songs and vote for their top five songs in order. The votes from APRA members determine the top five finalists and winner.

All judges in all categories evaluate the entries without knowing who wrote/composed each song/work – they are simply given the song title, song lyrics, and audio file.

All judges have not entered the awards themselves, and must declare any conflict of interest with any entries ahead of final decisions being made.

APRA staff members have no input or influence in the judging of any categories.

It’s FREE to enter all the categories, so all it will cost you is a couple of minutes of your time.

Please provide audio-visual samples of your work – a showreel if you have one. These samples can be pre-existing or created for entry – they should not exceed 5minutes in duration. Additionally, Screen entrants are encouraged to provide scores where available for the submitted pieces.

Applications are only available for individual songwriters – although the band’s music can be considered, the individual songwriter’s application responses will be considered alone. Additionally, the funds will be provided to the individual alone.

You can, but please ensure that you complete all fields with the writer's name and details, not yours. We do also want to hear directly from our writer members about how an Award will support their development, so the responses should come from them.

You sure can. The Professional Development Awards are intended to help songwriters and composers move into the next phase of their musical careers. Make sure you use your application to tell us how winning will help you do this.

The PDA application form and all submitted materials are stored on a highly secure server that ensures privacy and security for all APRA AMCOS data. Your application will only be viewed by select APRA AMCOS staff and the Judging Panel.

All applications will be considered final and complete when submitted – as we must adhere to strict deadlines in terms of judging, we cannot replace files within an application after the closing deadline. However, our judging criteria places importance more on the content of the application than the recording quality of the submitted pieces.

The quality of the recording is not taken into account by the judges, so it can be recorded however you like. However, your song must have been released to the public in some way in order to be eligible (ie. made public via a digital platform like Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, YouTube or another website, or via radio or TV).

This information may be published online and/or in print if your application is shortlisted and/or you are a winner.

To ensure that all applicants adhere to the Terms and Conditions – Proof of ID is required to ensure that applications are directly from the applicant in question.