Inaugural Prog magazine awards announced

The Prog mag awards are go!

Prog magazine, Classic Rock‘s sister title, is proud to announce the first annual Progressive Music Awards, presented by Orange Amplification, which is coming to London in September.

Steven Wilson leads the nominations with five, followed by both Steve Hackett and Ian Anderson, who are nominated in four categories each, and with Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and It Bites both featuring in three different awards categories.

A full list of all the categories and nominees is below and can also be found at the Prog website here.

Readers can have their say by voting in the categories in five of the categories – New Blood, Live Event, Anthem, Album Of The Year and Grand Design.

Go here to cast your votes.

Readers who vote will have the chance to win a bumper prize of prog goodies from all the band’s nominated as well as a piece of prog-related framed artwork from The Flood Gallery who will be hosting a prog art exhibition at the awards themselves.

“These awards have been a long time coming,” says Prog Editor Jerry Ewing. “But certainly when one considers the enormous amount of success that progressive artists have garnered over the past four decades, and perhaps more importantly the enjoyment they have given millions of fans over the years, it’s only right we give something back to the musicians themselves And given the buoyancy of the genre in recent years, we felt that the time was certainly right.

“We think we’ve managed to get the balance of nominations right with acknowledgement of the original wave of progressive artists who have been such an inspiration to so many people, and today’s new wave of forward thinking musicians who carry the flame ever onwards.”

The full list of categories and nominations is:

PROGRESSIVE MUSIC AWARDS 2012 CATEGORIES AND NOMINEES

NEW BLOOD [Sponsored by Kscope]

The best up and coming act of the year, unsigned or signed and fledgling.

TesseracT

Gazpacho

Von Hertzen Brothers

Headspace

The Reasoning

Haken

Touchstone

LIVE EVENT [Sponsored by Esoteric/Cherry Red]

For the band or act who made the greatest show on earth this year.

Ian Anderson – Thick As A Brick tour

Summer’s End Festival

Opeth – Brixton Academy

Steve Hackett – ChildLine Rocks Charity Show, Islington Assembly Rooms

Steven Wilson – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Marillion – Forum/US Tour

Anathema – Union Chapel/Koko

ANTHEM

Prog comes in all shapes and sizes these days. We salute the most creative songs of the past 12 months.

Steven Wilson – Raider II

Panic Room – Song For Tomorrow

Arena – One Last Au Revoir

Karmakanic – Turn It Up

Crippled Black Phoenix – Laying Traps

It Bites – The Last Escape

Squackett – A Life Within A Day

ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Sponsored by InsideOut]

The best of the progressive full length releases.

Anathema – Weather Systems

Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion

Opeth – Heritage

It Bites – Map Of The Past

Rush – Clockwork Angels

Yes – Fly From Here

Nightwish – Imaginaerum

GRAND DESIGN

Celebrating the artistic achievement for the raft of Special and Deluxe Editions that populate the modern progressive genre.

Pink Floyd – Immersion Reissues

King Crimson – Panegyric Reissues

Peter Gabriel – New Blood Deluxe Edition

Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning Deluxe Edition

Rush – Sectors Box Sets

Jethro Tull – Aqualung 40^th Anniversary Special Edition

Tangerine Dream – Zeit Box Set

VIRTUOSO [Sponsored by KEF]

The musician who’s the cream of the 2012 prog crop chop-wise – could be a tub-thumper, a singer, keyboard king or guitar slinger. Being prog, it could even be the nose flute.

Mike Portnoy (Flying Colors)

John Petrucci (Dream Theater)

John Mitchell (It Bites/Arena)

Nick Beggs (Steve Hackett/Steven Wilson)

Rob Reed (Magenta)

Carl Palmer (ELP/Asia)

Roine Stolt (Flower Kings/Transatlantic)

VISIONARY [Sponsored by Eagle Rock]

The spirit of prog independence, the rogues in our midst who make their own niche in a progressive direction.

Hawkwind

Kraftwerk

Radiohead

Muse

Can

Peter Hammill

Kate Bush

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT [Sponsored by Prog Rocks!]

Who do you think of when you think of prog? These are the people who have kept the flag flying and are synonymous with the genre. Their unswerving dedication and nerve has built the foundations for generations to come.

Jethro Tull

Pink Floyd

Yes

Moody Blues

Genesis

Van der Graaf Generator

ELP

GUIDING LIGHT

The person at the pinnacle of progressive thought today, this award is for the men and women who keep pushing boundaries, keep prog in the public eye and continue to inspire the young artists just setting out on their own paths.

Mikael Akerfeldt

Matt Bellamy

Robert Fripp

Steve Hackett

Mike Portnoy

Steven Wilson

Fish

PROG GOD [Sponsored by Orange]

The biggest movers and shakers within the progressive field over the last 40 years. Without this person prog would be a different, lesser place.

Ian Anderson

Rick Wakeman

Roger Waters

Peter Gabriel

Jon Anderson

Kate Bush

Steve Hillage

It promises to be an amazing night for progressive music fans and musicians alike, Make sure you stay tuned for updates and news at www.progrockmag.com and via Twitter and Facebook.