The MPG has announced two new categories for the 2022 awards ceremony, which will be the 14th year the organisation will celebrate the best of British production talent.
The two new categories are Vocal Producer of the Year and Rising Star award – the latter replaces the breakthrough engineer category, meaning that any eligible early-career recording, mixing or mastering engineer can be nominated for this category.
2022 also sees the return of the Unsung Hero Award – the only open category – which the MPG says is for anyone involved in the industry “who goes above and beyond”.
This could include studio assistants or technicians, effective campaigners, to anyone involved in music production who works tirelessly behind the scenes.
Public nominations open from January 4 2022, and anyone can submit entries for consideration in any of the 13 award categories. The remaining three categories are in the gift of the MPG.
This year’s awards' eligibility period is for music releases from October 1 2020 to September 30 2021.
Submissions are the first stage in the MPG’s thorough Awards process. Once names are submitted and checked as eligible against each Award criterion, MPG Full Members vote to create a shortlist, which are then presented to the judging panel and announced to the press and public in March.
"Any form of words to describe the past two years would be an understatement, but the way our industry has tackled it has been inspirational,” said Matt Taylor, executive director of The MPG.
“The new categories this year aim to not only celebrate this, but also make the MPG awards as inclusive as possible by reflecting the evolving nature of music production. We’re all excited to be back in person celebrating the best of industry in June 2022.”
Complete List of Awards Categories:
Producer of the year
Vocal Producer Of The Year
Writer-Producer Of The Year
Breakthrough Producer Of The Year
Self-Producing Artist Of The Year
Recording Engineer Of The Year
Mix Engineer Of The Year
Mastering Engineer Of The Year
Rising Star Award
Unsung Hero Award
Album Of The Year
Studio Of The Year
Original Score Recording Of The Year
The MPG 2022 Awards Categories in the gift of the MPG are:
PPL Present The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution to UK Music,
sponsored by PPL
The MPG Special Recognition Award
The MPG Inspiration Award
Submissions are open from January 4 to January 18 2022.
The ceremony will take place at Grosvenor House in June 2022. Early bird tickets will go on sale in March via the MPG website.
Previous MPG award winners include Paul Epworth (Adele) InFlo (Sault, Michael Kiwanuka), FKA Twigs, Catherine Marks (Foals, Alanis Morissette) and Dr Susan Rodgers (Prince).
Sponsorship opportunities to suit all budgets are available for this event. Companies that would like to discuss this should contact MPG Awards event organiser Adam Cuthbertson.
Pictured is Northern Irish composer, Hannah Peel, who picked up her MPG Award for UK Original Score Recording Of The Year at the 2021 MPG Christmas party for her work on The Deceived (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).