The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA), also known as the NT Indigenous Music Awards from 2004 to 2008, are music awards presented to recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

musicians in Australia.

History

The inaugural event was held in 2004, launched as the NT Indigenous Music Awards. In 2008 the awards went national and were renamed the National Indigenous Music Awards. Just a couple of weeks before the scheduled date of the 2021 event on 7 August, it was announced that it would be postponed until later in the year, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

flaring in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Description

The National Indigenous Music Awards are awarded during the

Darwin Festival The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual arts festival in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the Northern Territory lifest ...

and run by MusicNT in association with the

Northern Territory Government The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia, also referred to as the Northern Territory Government, is the Australian territorial democratic administrative authority of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory wa ...

. They recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among

musicians from throughout Australia. The Awards are presented at a special event in August as part of the Darwin Festival in

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

, and feature the best of

Indigenous music Indigenous music is a term for the traditional music of the indigenous peoples of the world, that is, the music of an "original" ethnic group that inhabits any geographic region alongside more recent immigrants who may be greater in number. The ter ...

talent.

Eligibility and categories

To be eligible, the associated release or achievement must have taken place from July (the year prior) to June (the year of the awards). The categories have changed over the years, but the main categories in the ceremony include Artist/Act of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Film clip of the Year and Best New Talent/Emerging Talent, as well as an inductee into the Hall of Fame.

Unearthed NIMAs Competition

Radio station

Triple j Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

runs the Unearthed National Indigenous Music Awards Competition to select an emerging Indigenous artist to play at the Awards. Winners have included

Dallas Woods Dallas Woods, is an Indigenous Australian rapper and musician. Woods is known for his role on ABC Kids' ''Move It Mob Style'' and in 2018 as Baker Boy's support act on his national tour. Woods gained attention by winning the New Talent Song ...

Thelma Plum Thelma Amelina Plumbe (born 21 December 1994), known professionally as Thelma Plum, is an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist and musician from Delungra, New South Wales. Her father is renowned lore-man Paul Winanga-li Gii Spear ...

Baker Boy Danzal James Baker (born 10 October 1996), known professionally as Baker Boy, is a Yolngu rapper, dancer, artist, and actor. Baker Boy is known for performing original hip-hop songs incorporating both English and Yolŋu Matha and is one of ...

, Alice Skye, Kuren, and

Tilly Tjala Thomas Tilly may refer to: Places France * Tilly, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Tilly, Indre, in the Indre ''département'' * Tilly, Yvelines, in the Yvelines ''département'' Elsewhere * Tilly, Belgium, a village in the municipality of Villers ...

Awards by year

''To see the full article for a particular year, please click on the year link.''

References

External links

* {{Australian Music Award Shows Indigenous Australian music Australian music awards Organisations serving Indigenous Australians Awards honoring indigenous people Awards established in 2004 2004 establishments in Australia Annual events in Australia Recurring events established in 2004