Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize

RT Choice Music Prize

In association with IMRO and IRMA

2 0 2 6 K E Y D A T E S

Irish Album of the Year 2025 Shortlist 19th January

Irish Song of the Year 2025 Shortlist - 23rd January

Live in Vicar St, Dublin with Exclusive RT 2FM Broadcast 5th March

(Tickets on sale Friday 14th Nov at 9am, priced 29.50 plus booking fees)

https://www.ticketmaster.ie/

Irish Artist of the Year / Irish Breakthrough Artist / Classic Irish Album

21 years after the prize first made its debut in 2005, the RT Choice Music Prize returns next year, and will continue its principal role in championing homegrown music. The key dates for the 2026 event were announced today on RT 2FM's Tracy Clifford Show.

The RT Choice Music Prize live event, one of the music industry's biggest nights, will be back in Vicar St on Thursday 5th March and celebrated in an exclusive live broadcast on RT 2FM.

Three additional prizes will be awarded on the night - Irish Artist of the Year, Irish Breakthrough Artist and Classic Irish Album. RT 2FM will broadcast a week of Choice Music Prize announcements from 19th - 23rd January, with All Irish All Day kicking things off on the station on Monday 19th January.

The Choice Music Prize website has published a list of Irish albums released to date in 2025. This list can be viewed and updated via https://www.choicemusicprize.ie/

RT Choice Music Prize Key 2026 Dates include:

Irish Album of the Year 2025 - shortlist, Mon 19th January

Irish Artist of the Year - shortlist, Tues 20th January

Irish Breakthrough Artist - shortlist, Wed 21st January

Classic Irish Album - further details Thurs 22nd January (the winning album will be announced ahead of the live gig next year)

Irish Song of the Year 2025 - shortlist, Fri 23rd January

(public voting for SOTY opens)

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Conversations - Thursday 5th March, BIMM, Francis St

Live Event with an Exclusive RT 2FM Broadcast - Thursday 5th March, Vicar St

Dave Reid, Choice Music Prize co-founder commented - The breadth and diversity of Irish music right now is astounding typified by recent Choice Music Prize winners Fontaines D.C., CMAT and more doing so well on the world stage. We look forward to honouring and celebrating the best in Irish music in partnership with RTE through our week of shortlist announcements on the Tracy Clifford show beginning on January 19th and ending with the 21st edition of the RT Choice Music Prize Live event on Thursday March 5th at Vicar St .

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RAAP, Culture Ireland, FMC, Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet & Minding Creative Minds are also official project partners of the RT Choice Music Prize.

2024 winners announced last March:

Fontaines D.C. - Romance (AOTY)

Kabin and Lisdoonvarna Crew The Spark (SOTY)

Jordan Adetunji - Irish Artist of the Year

Kneecap - Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year

Watermark by Enya - Classic Irish Album

Previous Winners

https://www.choicemusicprize.ie/previous-winners/

I'm really looking forward to once again celebrating the very best in Irish music through this year's RT Choice Music Prize in what has been another great year packed with quality. There really is so much to look forward to right across the categories given the amount Irish talent out there making a name for themselves and entertaining audiences. The week of announcements in January on 2FM is always a great one, and not without its surprises, and the live event in Vicar Street is one of my favourite nights of the year. Bring it on! . - RT 2FM's Tracy Clifford

RT Choice Music Prize will once again celebrate the best in Irish recorded music. The Prize has become one of the music-industry highlights of the year since its inception nearly 21 years ago in 2005. The Irish Album of the Year prize only is chosen from a shortlist of ten albums by a panel of eleven Irish music media professionals and industry experts. The winning AOTY act will receive 10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). All shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award on the night.

ENDS

LINK:	https://about.rte.ie/2025/11/12/celebrating-21-years-of-the-rte-choice...
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