The Audience Award One of the main awards has now been decided by you the audience. The winner will be announced at the Poll Winners concert in March. A huge thanks to all those who contributed. It was wonderful to see such a wide-ranging list of nominations (left) and the way so many of the musicians have touched your lives.
Here are the bands who were voted onto the final shortlist. Click on each name to read more about them and click on the 'listen' icon to hear a selected track from each band. A large selection of your comments can be found by clicking on the list to the left.
Peter Quirk, Ipswich:
'A haunting voice that comes straight from her soul, real issues and great depth for a debut recording.'
Mick Pepper:
'A stirring voice on record but live is a revelation. Whether singing a soulful ballad or a good time song you won't need to speak Arabic to understand the feelings Souad is communicating.'
