The five finalists for New Zealand's most prestigious songwriter award - the Silver Scroll - have been announced: Sean Donnelly (SJD) for "Beautiful Haze"; Ruban Neilson (The Mint Chicks) for "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!"; Jason Kerrison, Bobby Kennedy, Matt Treacy and Clinton Harris (Opshop) for "Maybe"; Brooke Fraser for "Albertine" and Liam Finn (pictured) for "Second Chance".The five finalists for New Zealand's most prestigious songwriter award - the Silver Scroll - have been announced: Sean Donnelly (SJD) for "Beautiful Haze"; Ruban Neilson (The Mint Chicks) for "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!"; Jason Kerrison, Bobby Kennedy, Matt Treacy and Clinton Harris (Opshop) for "Maybe"; Brooke Fraser for "Albertine" and Liam Finn (pictured) for "Second Chance".The award has been presented since 1965, historically; a panel of anonymous writers and industry experts has judged the Silver Scroll. This year, a significant change occurred in determining the winner. A panel of judges nominated by APRA convened the preliminary finalist list, and then the remaining process was handed over to APRA members who were able to log on, listen, read the lyrics and vote.

"The feedback from our APRA members and wider music community has been overwhelmingly positive in response to this new way of judging" said Anthony Healey, APRA's Director of NZ Operations. "The results are in and we're thrilled. We've got five spectacular songs that represent the true artistic diversity and wealth of talent that exists within our local song-writing community."

The finalists' works will be performed at the APRA Silver Scroll Awards on 18 September at the Auckland Town Hall. The winner of the Silver Scroll 2007 (as decided by APRA's members) will be announced along with the following awards:

SOUNZ Contemporary Award
Recognising creative excellence by a NZ classical composer. The finalists are: Christopher Blake for "Anthem on the Kaipara", Eve de Castro-Robinson for "These Arms to Hold You" and Ross Harris for "The Sleep Of Reason".

The APRA Maioha Award
Presented for the best Te Reo Maori song of the year.
The finalists are: Andrea Tunks and Pierre Tohe for "Aio", Mika (with The Plastic Maori Band) for "Poti" and Marian Mare for "Tenei Tamaiti".

Said Healey: "Many voices have spoken and the people selected to contend for this special award were chosen not by anonymous strangers, but by fellow song-writers."

16/8/07