The Top Five Finalists For The 2016 APRA Silver Scroll Have Been Announced

The nation's 10,000-odd APRA members have spoken and the top five finalists for the APRA Silver Scroll Award have been revealed.

Presented by royalty collection agency APRA, the award is New Zealand's most prestigious songwriting award, recognising creative excellence in the craft of songwriting, regardless of sales figures and chart success. Since its inception in 1965, the Scroll has passed through the hands of the country's songwriting elite: Ray Columbus, Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga, Don McGlashan, Neil Finn, Chris Knox and many more.

Whittled down from a list of 20, the top five finalists in line for this year's gong represent an eclectic mix of genres and range from iconic names in NZ music, previous winners and up-and-comers in the industry. The finalists are:

'Dream' - written and performed by Lydia Cole.

'Give Up Your Dreams' - written by Samuel Scott, Lukasz Buda, Conrad Wedde, William Ricketts, Thomas Callwood, Christopher O'Connor. Performed by The Phoenix Foundation.

'If I Move To Mars' - written and performed by Thomas Oliver.

'Pedestrian Support League' - written by Emily Littler, Billie Rogers, Alex Brown, Christopher Farnham. Performed by Street Chant.

'The First Man' - written by Tami Neilson, Jay Neilson. Performed by Tami Neilson.

The award will be presented at Auckland's Vector Arena on Thursday 29 September. Other awards presented on the night include: an induction into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame; the APRA Maioha Award, celebrating exceptional waiata featuring te reo Māori; SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition; APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award and APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award.