Thelma Plum, The Jungle Giants, Denis Handlin among the winners at Queensland Music Awards

Thelma Plum and The Jungle Giants were among the champions Tuesday night (March 3) at the 2020 Queensland Music Awards, held for the first time at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall.

Also on the night, The Kite String Tangle was a double champion, Amy Shark, Conrad Sewell and Nat Dunn collected silverware, while industry legend Denis Handlin and late Blowhard frontman Brentyn ‘Rollo’ Rollason were honoured with special awards.

Thelma Plum’s ARIA Award-nominated debut Better In Blak took out Album Of The Year.

The set, which tells the tale of a Gamilaraay woman’s world, had previously placed second in the triple j listeners poll, was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize, bagged ARIA nominations and three songs from it cracked the Triple J Hottest 100, including its title track at No. 9.

Plum’s national Homecoming Queen tour runs this May, June and July, and includes a performance May 30 at the Big Pineapple Festival, the Q Music Award winner for Festival Of The Year for the third successive year.

Listen to The Jungle Giants’ ‘Heavy Hearted’:

Brisbane indie outfit The Jungle Giants won for Song Of The Year with ‘Heavy Hearted,’ written, produced and recorded by lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Sam Hales, while The Kite String Tangle snagged the Electronic / Dance and Video categories for ‘P()L4R’.

Gold Coaster Amy Shark, now a national star with a swag of ARIA Awards, APRA Awards and a No. 1 album to her name, was on hand to collect the Q Music Award for highest-selling single award for ‘Mess Her Up’, Conrad Sewell nabbed highest-selling album award for his chart-topping debut ‘Life’ and Nat Dunn scooped the Export Achievement award.

Stream The Kite String Tangle’s ‘P()L4R’:

The Queensland Government’s 2020 Billy Thorpe Scholarship went to Harry Phillips, a singer-songwriter from the state capital, who gets a cash injection of $10,000 to record his next release and scores career planning advice from Chugg Entertainment.

“2019 was a stellar year for Queensland music and tonight we got to celebrate some of our finest homegrown talent who are at the forefront of Queensland artists making big waves on the national and global music front,” comments QMusic CEO Angela Samut.

Denis Handlin was in the house to receive the QMusic Honorary Award, in recognition of the executive’s 50-year tenure at Sony Music Entertainment, making him the longest serving executive with Sony Music worldwide.

Handlin, who will celebrate his milestone with Sony Music this May, was feted for his role in developing and supporting local artists, driving charitable contributions and overseeing the Asia Pacific region for the past 10 years.

Born in Brisbane, Handlin has been at the helm of Sony Music Australia since 1984, during which time he has guided the careers of a long list of music giants, from Men at Work to Midnight Oil, Silverchair, John Farnham, Daryl Braithwaite, Tina Arena, Delta Goodrem, Human Nature and many more.

Stream Amy Shark’s ‘Mess Her Up’:

Also, Brentyn ‘Rollo’ Rollason, frontman of Blowhard, an icon of the Brisbane punk scene, was posthumously honoured with the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Fortitude Music Hall, which opened for business last year in the Fortitude Valley and is run by the team behind The Triffid, winner for Metro Venue of the Year for the second straight year, hosted performances from Jaguar Jonze, Cub Sport, Nat Dunn, Busby Marou and Order Sixty6.

Visit the QMAs website for the full list of winners.

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