Five Highlights From APRA Silver Scrolls 2016

New Zealand's top songwriting talent was celebrated at the annual Silver Scroll Awards last night, which took place last night at a ceremony at Vector Arena in Auckland. Taking away the big prize was Wellington musician Thomas Oliver for 'If I Move To Mars', a song selected from a short-list of amazing tunes from finalists Tami Neilson (who won the award in 2014), Street Chant, The Phoenix Foundation, and Lydia Cole.

The ceremony also saw influential Maori artist Moana Maniapoto inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame, and she gave a brilliant acceptance speech which was followed by a spellbinding tribute from Auckland act Soccerpractise who covered her song 'Tahi'.

Thanks to Radio New Zealand's awesome coverage we're able to share that performance along with some of our other highlights from the evening...

Here is the ever delightful John Campbell introducing himself to Moana's mum...

Karl Steven (Supergroove, Drab Doo-Riffs, Queen Neptune,Heart Attack Alley) took away the award for Best Original Music series for his work on 800 Words...

Jakob (with guest bassist Julia Deans) delivered an amazing cover of 'Rainphase', a track composed by Salina Fisher that won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award...

And Oystercatcher (somewhat of a supergroup as tagged by Campbell) smashed out a captivating cover of The Phoenix Foundation's 'Give Up Your Dreams'....

Here's the full list of winners:

APRA Silver Scroll Award: Thomas Oliver - If I Move to Mars
APRA Maioha Award: Rob Ruha - Kariri
SOUNZ Contemporary Award: Salina Fisher - Rainphase
APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award: Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper and Tama Waipara - Mahana
APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award: Karl Steven - 800 Words
Hall of Fame: Moana Maniapoto