Hopes are high for a new award that will raise the profile of Irish acts, David Reid, co-ordinator of the Choice Music Prize tells Brian Boyd

WHEN details of the Choice Music Prize were announced - in shorthand terms, this is the Irish equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize - you really had to wonder if they could find 10 semi-good albums to fill their shortlist. As it transpired, they not only filled the 10 places but left off two acts who many thought would have been shoo-ins, namely 8 Ball and The Walls.

Before all that, though, what's the point of having a competition modelled on the Mercury when that prize already caters for both Irish and British albums? Doesn't this mean that the Choice award is only going to be an indie You're A Star?

"Not at all," says the event's co-ordinator, David Reid. "While The Mercury is for Irish and British albums, it is only for Irish albums that have had a release in the UK. For one reason or another, not all good Irish albums get a UK release. And if you look at this year's Choice shortlist, you'll find that six of the 10 albums haven't been released there."

Reid is running the event alongside Ticket journalist Jim Carroll. It's something they've had in mind for the last few years, but just found the right kind of sponsorship difficult to find. "We decided, eventually, to go it alone, but we have had generous help from IMRO (the Irish Music Rights Association), IRMA (the Irish Recorded Music Association) and RAAP (the Recorded Artists and Performers company). There's already been quite a bit of interest in this - there's even been a story in Billboard."

The inaugural shortlist has been selected by a panel of 12 music media types drawn from print, radio and television. Reid and Carroll played no part in drawing up the shortlist and will be similarly hands-off when the overall winner is announced at a special gig in Vicar St in February.

As with the Mercury and the US Shortlist (now renamed The Pantheon) prizes, the panel have looked not at commercial success but at musical merit.

"The way it worked out, there's only one major label act there," says Reid. "And quite a few of the albums are self-released. There's been a bit of discussion about why a certain band isn't on the list - or why a certain band is - and that's a good thing."

Reid hopes that the Choice Prize will help acts get more of a profile in this country, but, more importantly, introduce them to audiences in other countries. In Britain, the Mercury nominees typically receive a big sales increase, but it remains to be seen whether that happens in the smaller circles of the Irish music industry.

"The hope is that, in Irish terms, the bands shortlisted get more radioplay and sell more live tickets," he says. "But the real focus here is on getting international interest. This is about getting publishing companies and management companies and record labels overseas interested. Some of the bands have already had enquiries from publishing companies. It would be good to see a number of these acts getting releases abroad."

The promotion of new talent has always been an interest for Reid. From Cork, he first got involved in music through student union ents activities and went on to organise the annual student music awards competition. He currently works in an A&R capacity for a British indie and a US major. He also co-founded the www.irishunsigned.com website.

In setting up the Choice award, he was never deterred by comments that the country just wasn't big enough to warrant such a competition. "There were over 200 Irish albums released last year and these were across all genres," he says. "A lot of these albums just didn't receive a huge amount of publicity and we always hoped that the panellists would look at albums not in terms of their profile but just on the music. If the 12 of them had come back with a list of boyband/girlband albums, then we would have had to have gone with that. It really is their choice, and their choice alone. There was no criterion about sales or anything - I know for the Pantheon prize in the US an album can't be nominated if it sold more than 500,000 copies, but there was no proportional figure here for us. And the panellists do come from all corners of the island so there can't be any regional bias."

The overall winner will be announced at the Vicar St gig on February 28th.

Reid says that nine of the 10 shortlisted acts will be performing on the night. The only band missing will be The Chalets, who have the support slot at a Kaiser Chiefs gig in Paris that night. "We're just going to put the 12 panellists in a room on the night and wait for them to make their decision," he says.

Reid expects a fair few international music-business types to attend the Vicar St show. He sees it as an ideal showcase for the selected bands and hopes that next year's event will be televised.

Meanwhile, if you fancy a punt, the bookmakers Paddy Power are offering odds for this year's event. Their favourites are currently Bell X1 who are at 6/4, followed by Hal at 3/1. Nick Kelly props up the list with odds of 20/1.

There are still some tickets available for the Vicar St show on February 28th. Telephone Ticketmaster: 0818 719300