HA NOI (VNS) — The nominees for the Devotion Music Awards were announced by The Thao & Van Hoa (Sport & Culture) daily yesterday.

This year, the awards will see the introduction of another category, raising the total number of awards to seven. Categories include: best music productions, best artist of 2013, best album, best show and song of the year. There will also be awards for the best series of music performances.

Three television series have made the newly added series of music performances category, which has five nominees in total.

Young singers emerging from the television music shows will also compete for the category of best New Artist including favourites Duc Hung, Dinh Huong, Truc Nhan and Cat Tuong.

Song of the Year nominees include chart-topping songs that have been popular on music websites. The song Bac Lam Vuon va Con Chim Sau (Gardener and a Bird) is a favourite this year with it's composer Duc Hung and singer Truc Nhan headlining the New Artist category.

There are six nominees for the Album of the Year, with albums Yem Dao Xuong Pho (Village Damsel Walking down the Street) and Doc Dao (Unique Path) headlining the category.

The album Yem Dao Xuong Pho by singer Tan Nhan is a popular favourite with combinations of jazz and cheo (traditional opera).

"This album shows Tan Nhan's devotion to music. Mixing jazz with cheo art is creative and I'm really interested in this nomination," said journalist Ngo Ba Luc, from VnMedia.vn.

The album also marks the first time contemporary-folk music has been nominated for the award. "I made the album to dignify folk music values and I want young music listeners to love traditional Vietnamese music," said singer Tan Nhan.

The album Doc Dao is a production by Tung Duong and Vietnamese-French musician Nguyen Le. The album is an ode to jazz and has been well received by music critics.

Both the artists nominated in the categories of Composer of the Year and Singer of the Year, with the album's launch show also nominated for Show of the Year .

As is the case every year, Composer of the Year and Singer of the Year will garner close attention from the public and music makers. Five nominees in the Composer of the Year category include Pham Hai Au, Do Bao, Bao Lan, Nguyen Le and Quoc Trung.

Composer Do Bao approaches the contest having won the title in 2009. Quoc Trung has missed out on the award on numerous occasions, despite being nominated.

"Being nominated is great for me because my efforts are being recognised. I hope I can win the series of music performance category with my work in Rock Storm," said Quoc Trung.

Nguyen Dinh Thanh Tam is the newest contender in the race for Singer of the Year. He has been compared to Tung Duong who is also nominated this year and has claimed the title five times.

"Since it was established in 2004, the Devotion Music Awards has honoured popular singers and musicians who have proved their talent and made contributions to the music industry," said Truong Le Kim Hoa, the daily's editior-in-chief.

This year, around 100 journalists from Ha Noi and HCM City will be invited to vote for their favourite shows, albums and artists. The awards ceremony will be held on April 22 at Ha Noi Opera House with a live broadcast scheduled on Viet Nam Television's channel 2. — VNS