It is announced that online voting is now open for the eighth Parliamentary Jazz Awards which will take place at the House of Commons Terrace Pavilion on Wednesday 16 May 2012. Entries are open to everyone, and forms can be completed online from the Jazz Services website at www.jazzservices.org.uk. The final deadline for entries is 11.55 am on Monday 20 February 2012.

The Parliamentary Jazz Awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG), and supported by PPL in conjunction with Jazz Services, Jazz UK, Jazzwise, and the Jazz Section of the Musicians' Union.

The nine categories for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2012 are:

  • Jazz Musician of the Year
  • Jazz Ensemble of the Year
  • Live Jazz Award (including venues, promoters, festivals and jazz clubs)
  • Jazz Journalist of the Year
  • Jazz CD of the Year (released in 2011 by a UK band or musicians)
  • Jazz Broadcaster of the Year
  • Jazz Publication of the Year (inc. magazines, blogs, listings & books)
  • Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of jazz education in the UK)
  • Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to Jazz in the UK)


PPL has been supporting the awards since 2005 and last year's winners 2011 included: Dame Cleo Laine – APPJAG Special Award; Brass Jaw – Jazz Ensemble of the Year; John Fordham – Jazz Journalist of the Year; John Turville 'Midas'– Jazz Album of the Year; and Coleridge Goode for Services to Jazz.

APPJAG has over 80 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords, across all political parties. Its aim is to encourage a wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form, and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament.