Music Victoria Awards Announce New Winners Following Discovery Of Voting Fraud

Music Victoria has announced a change to the winners of its 2024 Awards following the detection of voting fraud in its public-voted categories.

The news was announced via the organisation on Wednesday, November 28th, with Music Victoria revealing they had become aware of “unusual activity within the third-party voting system” been used for the public voted categories this year.

“Through internal investigations, including liaison with the third-party voting system Award Force, cyber security experts and legal advice, it has been found that targeted action by an unknown assailant/s has resulted in thousands of misregistered votes being falsely attributed to nominees, resulting in a change to the recipients of five of the six publicly voted categories,” a statement from Music Victoria read.

The affected categories include Best Song, Best Album, Best Solo Artist, Best Group, and Best Regional Act, which were initially handed out on October 24th. While the nominees in the affected categories have remained the same, the winners in those categories have however been changed.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Music Victoria (@musicvictoria)

Previously, Best Song had been awarded to Good Morning’s Excalibur and has now instead been awarded to Jess Ribeiro’s Summer Of Love. Likewise, Gregor’s Satanic Lullabies had been named Best Album, though that award now belongs to Angie McMahon’s Light, Dark, Light Again.

Best Solo Artist has been changed from Audrey Powne to Maple Glider, Best Group has been awarded to Gut Health instead of RVG, and Best Regional Act has gone to Leah Senior instead of the previously-awarded ZÖJ.

The Best DJ award has remained the same, with DJ PGZ retaining the honour.

“The Music Victoria Awards strive to elevate and celebrate our wonderful music community,” the organisation explained. “We acknowledge the disappointment and devastation this news may cause members.”

In addition to planning a proper acknowledgement and presentation ceremony at the 2025 awards, Music Victoria has however noted the initial recipients will be allowed to keep their trophy and prize, with prizes and trophies also being arranged for the new winners.

Music Victoria also addressed potential questions that may arise, including the topic of why the fraud had not been detected prior to the initial awards ceremony.

“This was a well-executed act of fraud, that was purposefully aiming to not be detected,” they explained. “Music Victoria had taken the recommended steps as outlined by Award Force (including but not limited to voter registration, vote limits, real-time monitoring, bot-detection) to prevent fraudulent activity and our pre-announce analysis had not found any anomalies.”

Though further details regarding the nature of the fraud have not been revealed, Music Victoria have however noted the matter has been referred to the Victoria Police Cybercrime, Fraud, Scams, and Online Safety Unit for further investigation and action.

2024 Music Victoria Award Winners

PUBLIC VOTED

BEST SONG OR TRACK presented by PBS
Jess Ribeiro – Summer Of Love
(Formerly, Good Morning - Excalibur)

BEST ALBUM presented by Triple R
Angie McMahon – Light, Dark, Light Again
(Formerly, Gregor - Satanic Lullabies)

BEST SOLO ARTIST presented by Triple R
Maple Glider
(Formerly, Audrey Powne)

BEST DJ presented by City of Melbourne
DJ PGZ

BEST GROUP presented by PBS
Gut Health
(Formerly, RVG)

BEST REGIONAL ACT presented by Pullman Melbourne on the Park
Leah Senior
(Formerly, ZÖJ)

INDUSTRY VOTED

BEST MUSICIAN presented by JMC Academy
Cheryl Durongpisitkul

BEST PRODUCER presented by AON
Lauren Coutts

AMPLIFY AWARD presented by Arts Access Victoria
Saint Ergo

DIASPORA AWARD
Wild Gloriosa

BEST BLUES WORK presented by The Blues Train
Opelousas

BEST COUNTRY WORK
Hana & Jessie-Lee’s Bad Habits

BEST ELECTRONIC WORK
Hybrid Man

BEST EXPERIMENTAL OR AVANT-GARDE WORK
Hand to Earth

BEST FOLK WORK
Evan & Mischa

BEST HEAVY WORK
Pizza Death

BEST HIP HOP WORK
FLY BOY JACK

BEST JAZZ WORK
Michelle Nicolle

BEST POP WORK
Gretta Ray

BEST REGGAE OR DANCEHALL WORK
JahWise

BEST ROCK OR PUNK WORK
The Belair Lip Bombs

BEST SOUL, FUNK, RNB OR GOSPEL WORK
Tekoa

BEST METRO FESTIVAL presented by Brick Lane Brewing
St Kilda Festival (Boon Wurrung)

BEST REGIONAL FESTIVAL presented by Brick Lane Brewing
NYE On The Hill Bass Coast (Bunurong)

BEST LARGE VENUE (Metro) presented by Oztix
Corner Hotel - Richmond (Wurundjeri)

BEST SMALL VENUE (Metro) presented by Oztix
Northcote Social Club (Wurundjeri)

BEST REGIONAL VENUE OR PRESENTER (Over 50 Gigs) presented by Oztix
Torquay Hotel - (Wadawarrung)

BEST REGIONAL VENUE OR PRESENTER (Under 50 gigs) presented by Oztix
The Sound Doctor  - Anglesea (Wadawurrung)