Vijay Iyer has been nominated for the Paul Acket Award

North Sea Jazz annually hands out the Paul Acket Award “Artist Deserving Wider Recognition”. This prize is meant for musicians, both band leaders and sidemen, who are already known in the inner jazz circuit, but are not yet known to a larger audience. As the title states, the prize is meant for artists who could still use wider recognition for their outstanding musicianship.

We asked national and international jazz critics, as well as programmers of clubs and festivals, to nominate the artists. Vijay Iyer is one of the top 5 nominees, meaning he is amongst the most frequently nominated. The other four top nominees are:
-Christian Scott
-Gerald Clayton
-Rudresh Mahanthappa
-Tineke Postma

A jury of three people who work in the jazz field as a critic, a programmer, and a musician and/or educator will make the final decision out of the five (5) most frequently named musicians. The winner will be presented the Paul Acket Award “Artist Deserving Wider Recognition” 2010 at the North Sea Jazz press conference on April 27 or 28, 2010.

The Paul Acket Award “Artist Deserving Wider Recognition” consists of a beautifully designed statue and, as of 2010, a cheque of € 5,000 to be used to strengthen the career of the award winner. Also, the award winner will be invited to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival and will receive additional promotional attention.

Previous winners of this award are, amongst others: Stefano Bollani (’09), Adam Rogers (’08), Gianluca Petrella (’07), Conrad Herwig (’06), Ben Allison (’05) and Martijn van Iterson (’04).