Andy Golledge is the inaugural winner of the Americana Music Prize

Andy Golledge has been announced as the recipient of the first-ever  Americana Music Prize of Australia. He was awarded the prize over the weekend at the Crossroads in the Vines music festival.

Golledge hails from Sydney’s inner-west hub of creativity, Newtown and submitted his stunning track ‘1170‘ for consideration, beating out 15 other finalists announced earlier this month.

The award is a joint initiative between Shane Nicholson/The Sound Hole, Forbes Street Studios and Lost Highway Australia, in which the winner receives an annual grant to benefit their burgeoning career.

Of the win, Shane Nicholson said “Andy epitomizes what the award represents. He is a hard-working songwriter in the Americana genre and has forged a path following his passion and dreams. We look forward to supporting Andy’s career through the services offered within this unique prize.” Andy’s songwriting skills have been likened to that of Neil Young, Glenn Campbell and Gillian Welsh, representing his own unique style of “Americana”.

Andy will receive a career-boosting $10,000 prize pack consisting of:

• Recording and production of an EP at Forbes Street Studios (1 day) & The Sound Hole (2 days). Produced, recorded and mixed by Shane Nicholson
• Mastering by Jeff McCormack at Music Cellar
• Professional Photo Shoot with Glen Hannah
• Artwork design and collaboration by Goonga Design
• Professionally filmed and edited EPK with MC Imaging
• Artist Bio written by Michael Dwyer
• Management consultation/career advice session with Graham Thompson Management
• Touring/Promoter consultation session with Zenon Els of Artist Network
• Specific press opportunities, including a piece in Rythyms; and
• An offer from Lost Highway Australia/Universal Music for distribution of the EP

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.