Winners at the ARIA Awards Ceremony

Every year Australians gather to hear the outcome of their annual music awards ceremony. There is the usual muddle of praise, skepticism and glamour as the rich and famous get ready to see who has won what at the prestigious ARIA Awards. This year proved to be quite a bit more surprising than expected.

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards have been held annually since 1987, casting the limelight on various artists in the Australian music industry and recognizing their achievements. Past winners and nominees have received a lot of favorable media attention and often also enjoy an increase in record sales. Therefore it is a very positive thing for an artist to get nominated for or to win an ARIA Award. Despite this fact, a number of less mainstream artists generally regard the awards with a certain amount of skepticism, claiming that it is simply an excuse for a good party.

Well, if anyone had a reason to party after the 2008 ARIA Award ceremony, it was Gabriella Cilmi. The teen sensation absolutely dominated this year’s awards, taking home six different accolades, including the coveted ‘Best Female Artist’, ‘Single of the Year’ and ‘Breakthrough Album’. The much coveted ‘Album of the Year’ award went to dance act The Presets, who also won the award for ‘Best Group’ and ‘Best Dance Release’.

Other winners from the ceremony are as follows: Delta Goodrem – Delta (Highest Selling Album), The Audreys – When The Flood Comes (Best Blues and Roots Album), The Wiggles – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Best Children’s Album), Bliss ‘n Eso – Flying Colours (Best Urban Release), Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Gurrumul (Best Independent Release), Powderfinger/Silverchair – Across the Great Divide (Best Music DVD), The Living End – White Noise (Best Rock Album), The Panics – Cruel Guards (Best Adult Contemporary Album), Gabriella Cilmi – Lessons To Be Learned (Best Pop Release/Breaktrhough Artist – Album), Shaun Micallef (Best Comedy), Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson – Rattlin’ Bones (Best Country Album), Nick Cave – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Best Male Artist), The Presets – Apocalypso (Album Of The Year).

The 2008 ARIA Awards were definitely a night to be remembered and the awards that were won that night will likely go on to have a positive effect on the careers of the majority of the artists who were lucky enough to receive them.