The Scottish Album of the Year Award has officially opened submissions for its 2019 prize. The national music award invites anyone to submit albums released between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 to their website. Unlike other awards the SAY Award strives to be as fair as possible by waiving any listing fee and inviting everyone, from labels to music fans, to have a say in who they think should win.

Now in its eighth year, previous winners of the award included two-time winners Young Fathers, Sacred Paws, Anna Meredith, Kathryn Joseph and RM Hubbert. It was founded as a way to show appreciation to the album as a piece of art and recognises all those involved in the creation including musicians, producers, album artwork artists, labels and more.

After submissions are collected, they will be edited down to 20 albums chosen by 100 impartial nominators from fields like journalism, music venues and music shops to create the longlist. The shortlist will then take that list down to 10 albums, one chosen by music fans via an online public vote and the nine others chosen by an independent judging panel. The winner is then both chosen and announced at The SAY Award ceremony, taking place on Friday 6 September.

This year the awards will relocate from the west coast of Scotland to Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms for the ceremony. All genres are considered for the awards and the winner will pocket a £20,000 cash prize, with nine runners up also awarded £1,000 each.

Robert Kilpatrick, General Manager at Scottish Music Industry Association said, 'Celebrating the album as a format has always been integral to the ethos of The SAY Award. Whilst curated playlists may now dominate listening habits for many music fans, artists across all genres still strive to create bodies of work that effectively showcase and reflect their artistic identity.'

Alan Morrison, Head of Music, Creative Scotland also commented, 'The quality of music recorded and released in Scotland, in every genre, is phenomenal. Albums are made in professional studios and concert halls, in bedrooms and basements, and The SAY Award rounds them all up and shouts about them from the rooftops. The more people who submit their favourite new albums, the better the exposure for the huge range and diversity of the music being made here. This is your chance to play a key role in championing Scottish music to the world.'

Eligible albums can be nominated via the SAY award website