Announcing the Twenty Best New Zealand Songs of the Past Year

Widely considered as the most prestigious accolade in New Zealand music, the APRA Silver Scroll Award recognises outstanding achievement in the craft of songwriting, regardless of sales figures and chart success. What makes the award unique is that the winner is decided by the votes of more than 10,000 New Zealand songwriters and composers.

From an initial long list of entries, 20 songs have now been unveiled as the finalists for this year's award. The list is made up of both former winners and newcomers, spanning all genres.

From here, the songs will be whittled down to the top five contenders before the winner is crowned at Vector Arena on Thursday 29 September.

Other awards presented on the night are the APRA Maioha Award, celebrating exceptional waiata featuring te reo Māori; the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition; the APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award; the APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award, and an induction into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

The top 20 finalists for the 2016 APRA Silver Scroll Award are:

Seth Haapu - '10 Years'
Lawrence Arabia - 'A Lake'
Gareth Thomas - 'All Eyes In The Room'
Leisure - 'All Over You'
The Sami Sisters - 'August Song'
Pacific Heights 

feat. Louis Baker - 'Buried By The Burden'
David Dallas - 'Don't Rate That'
Lydia Cole - 'Dream'
The Phoenix Foundation - 'Give Up Your Dreams'
Dave Dobbyn - 'Harmony House'
Thomas Oliver - 'If I Move To Mars'
Holly Arrowsmith 
with Fly My Pretties - 'Love Will Be A River'
Electric Wire Hustle 
feat. Deva Mahal - 'March'
Yoko-Zuna 
feat. Laughton Kora - 'One Question'
Street Chant - 'Pedestrian Support League'
Miloux - 'Pocket'
Andrew Keoghan - 'Stuck In Melodies'
Tami Neilson - 'The First Man'
Mice On Stilts - 'The Hours'
Shayne P Carter - 'We Will Rise Again'