\n Organisers said public response exceeded expectations, with nominations highlighting everyone from emerging young performers and original songwriters to established bands, community choirs and grassroots music champions.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Andover Music Awards)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ben Tuffin, from the Andover Music Awards team, said: \u201cThe Andover Music Awards are all about celebrating the incredible musical talent we have right here in our local community. To receive 460 nominations for our very first awards was fantastic and really demonstrated just how strong Andover\u2019s music scene is.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSelecting the finalists certainly wasn\u2019t easy because the quality of the nominations was so high, but we got there, and we\u2019re incredibly excited for the awards evening. It\u2019s shaping up to be a brilliant celebration of local music, and we have no doubt it will be a fantastic night.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cA huge thank you has to go to everyone who took the time to nominate someone and support the awards. We\u2019d also like to thank our main sponsor, Perfect Bore Manufacturing, and all our category sponsors. Their support has helped make the very first Andover Music Awards possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Among the headline categories, Tipsy Gypsies, Weird Science and The Torn Off Strips have been shortlisted for Best Band, while Jake Ward, Paul Jude Wilson and Shaun Bessant will compete for the Best Male award.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sarah McNair, Georgie Amelia and Unay Acar-Sumer are finalists for Best Female.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n
\n Original music features strongly in the awards, with Lucy by Dan Parkinson, Two Doors Away by The Torn Off Strips and 3 More Weeks by Maddison A shortlisted for Best Original Song.\n<\/p>\n
\n The awards also recognise the venues that support live music in the town, with The Lights, The Foresters Arms and The Angel Inn making the shortlist for Best Music Venue.\n<\/p>\n
\n Meanwhile, Music at the Manor, Andover Rocks and Andover Anarchy have been named finalists for Best Music Event.\n<\/p>\n
\n Young performers are represented through dedicated categories, with Josh Lynn, Harry Pearce and Toby Allen shortlisted for Young Musician of the Year, while Arksee, The Wobblies and The Buzz are competing for Young Band\/Group of the Year.\n<\/p>\n
\n Community groups have also been recognised, with Andover Rocks Team, Andover Ladies Choir and Uke@Heart named finalists for Community Group of the Year.\n<\/p>\n
\n Organisers have said winners will be chosen on merit rather than popularity, with judging based on the quality of nominations submitted rather than public votes.\n<\/p>\n
\n The awards are backed by Perfect Bore Manufacturing Ltd, with support from Andover Radio and Love Andover.\n<\/p>\n
\n Finalists are being asked to email amas@loveandover.com<\/a> with the names of those attending as part of their allocation. Tickets for members of the public are due to go on sale on Wednesday on loveandover.com\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Andover Music Awards 2026 finalists<\/p>\n \n Awards night: Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Best male<\/p>\n Jake Ward<\/p>\n Paul Jude Wilson<\/p>\n Shaun Bessant<\/p>\n Best female<\/p>\n Georgie Amelia<\/p>\n Sarah McNair<\/p>\n Unay Acar-Sumer<\/p>\n Best DJ<\/p>\n Paul Alex<\/p>\n Daniel James<\/p>\n Chris McKeegan<\/p>\n Newcomer of the year<\/p>\n Arksee<\/p>\n Eastwood Revival<\/p>\n Chanelle Steneberg<\/p>\n Best music venue<\/p>\n The Lights<\/p>\n The Foresters Arms<\/p>\n The Angel Inn<\/p>\n Best music event<\/p>\n Music at the Manor<\/p>\n Andover Rocks<\/p>\n Andover Anarchy<\/p>\n Best band<\/p>\n The Torn Off Strips<\/p>\n Weird Science<\/p>\n Tipsy Gypsies<\/p>\n Best live act<\/p>\n Cove<\/p>\n Stonepig<\/p>\n The Covergirlz<\/p>\n Best original act<\/p>\n 5 Nights at Adyans<\/p>\n Uncle Dave’s Biscuit Barrel<\/p>\n Echotape<\/p>\n Best original song<\/p>\n Two Doors Away \u2013 The Torn Off Strips<\/p>\n Lucy \u2013 Dan Parkinson<\/p>\n 3 More Weeks \u2013 Maddison A<\/p>\n Young musician of the year<\/p>\n Josh Lynn<\/p>\n Harry Pearce<\/p>\n Toby Allen<\/p>\n Young band\/group of the year<\/p>\n Arksee<\/p>\n The Wobblies<\/p>\n The Buzz<\/p>\n Musician\/instrumentalist of the year<\/p>\n Dan Parkinson<\/p>\n Shaun Bessant<\/p>\n Dave Allon<\/p>\n Community group of the year<\/p>\n Andover Rocks Team<\/p>\n Andover Ladies Choir<\/p>\n Uke@Heart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A total of 460 nominations were submitted for the inaugural awards, which recognise local musicians, bands, DJs, venues,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-788758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Venue: The Lights, Andover\n<\/p>\n