We’re excited to be partnering with the excellent Sound of the Year Awards this year, as the partner for their brand new category, Sound of the City.
Submit your favourite field recordings from urban spaces by 28 February, and your recording could be named as one of the sounds of the year.
What are the Sound of the Year Awards?
Sound of The Year Awards (SOTYA) has been celebrating sound in all its forms and from all corners of the world since 2020 when it was founded by The Radiophonic Institute.
Judged by a panel of leading lights from the international sound community, we are an annual award show partnering with major institutions such as the Natural History Museum and Southbank Centre with coverage on BBC Radio stations.
There have been more than 2,500 submissions from more than 70 countries. Judges for the awards have included Chris Watson, Matmos, Bernie Krause, Matthew Herbert, Kate Carr, Kirsty Whalley and Jez Riley-French.
The winner of each category will receive a basicUcho high-quality omni-directional microphone, courtesy of Lom, a minimalistic mount made by Radius Windshields and a Bubble Bee Industries windkiller.
What are we looking for?
In this new category, we are looking to celebrate the sounds that define your city and offer a platform to document the ways that cities are changing around the world.
- What are the soundmarks that are distinct to where you live?
- Are there sounds that are unique to your location or that help identify the quirks of daily life?
- From wildlife, to transport, to businesses or music we want to hear it all!
At a time when cities are growing, landscapes are changing, and we are seeing the impacts of climate change and conflict destroy the fabric of the cities we live in, we are keen to provide space for people to document sounds that might be disappearing, or the changing sounds that might be consuming cities at the moment.
- All submissions must have been recorded, heard, created, or publicly released between 1st Jan – 31st Dec 2024.
- Your submission must be no longer than five minutes in length. If your submission is longer than this, please send in a five minute section.
The 2025 Awards
As well as the Sound of the City category, you can enter into any of the categories for the awards, as listed below. Entries are free and you can submit more than one sound.
- Sound of the Year
- Best Natural Sound in partnership with Earth Day
- Disappearing Sound in partnership with Earth Sonic
- Children’s Category in partnership with Sound and Music
- Best Sound Innovation in partnership with Science and Media Museum
- Best Imagined Sound in partnership with National Poetry Library
- Composed with Sound in partnership with Accidental
- Most Unpleasant Sound in partnership with Hearing Conservation Association
- Sound of the City in partnership with Cities and Memory
