About the Awards
Origins and Purpose
Golden Fiddle Awards were presented for the first time at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2005, coinciding with the first two-hour stage show featuring fiddle playing which has become a significant and popular alternative Festival event. The Golden Fiddle Show has been staged in major Tamworth theatres at every annual Country Music Festival with the exception of the Covid years on the Friday closest to Australia Day.
The Golden Fiddle Awards is a not-for-profit charity dedicated to awarding and supporting violin playing musicians of all ages, bands featuring fiddlers, composers, teachers and others whose individual efforts help to foster and sustain fiddle playing and traditional fiddle music in Australasia.
The actual Golden Fiddle Award is based on the anatomy of a violin – a clear, square and transparent resin mould at the base, standing 40cm high and ending with a violin scroll. They are appropriately labelled and presented on stage during the annual Golden Fiddle Show.
Categories and Judging
The Awards are limited to four or five each year, with the categories and winners chosen by the Golden Fiddle Award judging panel comprising GFA directors and internationally touring musicians.
Common categories cover Youth, Lifetime Achievement, Community, Best Band with Fiddle Player, or best Fiddle Player.
Whether any award is given in any category is entirely at the discretion of Golden Fiddle Awards Ltd. Its decisions in all matters are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Nominate yourself or someone else for a Golden Fiddle Award
It’s easy….don’t worry about a category. All we need is a name, and your reason in a sentence or two for why you feel an award for this person is justified.
The only criteria that a nominated person or band should reach would be:
- Active and prolific fiddle playing at a high level of performance, live or on recordings
- Earned respect as a teacher, composer or music industry stalwart at a community or wider level
- High level of performance by a fiddler who is a featured player in a band or orchestra
- Dedication to any work or act that encourages training or public performance in the fiddle or violin playing community.
Why do we need awards for fiddlers?
The growing popularity of violin playing in Australia is in keeping with an international trend, which has not gone unnoticed by the managing director of Epoch Musical Instruments, Mark Mitchell.
“We designed and manufactured our range of coloured instruments during the 1990s, and they have become popular with a range of players, from school children through to professional stage performers,” says Mark.
“Our four and five string Epoch Professionals are being played by leading performers here and in the US, and this is helping to drive many young people towards the sheer fun of fiddling, with instruments which are easier to play than the traditional violin… and which make an individual fashion statement at the same time!”
