The Scottish Album of the Year Award marks its 15th year on Thursday 5 November, with the SAY Award 2026 shortlist battling it out in Dundee — and the city gets a front-row seat.
The SAY Award ceremony returns to the Caird Hall next week, the second of three years in Dundee. The winning album takes home £20,000, with every shortlisted act receiving £1,000 — and the prizes themselves are designed by local makers through the award’s Dundee design commission.
The SAY Award 2026 shortlist
- Barry Can’t Swim — Loner
- Boards of Canada — Inferno
- Brìghde Chaimbeul — Sunwise
- Heir of the Cursed — Heir of the Cursed
- Hen Hoose Collective — The Twelve
- Michael McGovern — Thin White Road (public vote)
- Sonedo — From Here On Out
- Swim School — Swim School
- Vagrant Real Estate — Neither Collar Nor Crown
- Vlure — ESCALATE
How the SAY Award 2026 shortlist was chosen
The longlist is drawn up by 100 impartial nominators from across journalism, broadcasting, music retail and live venues, each ranking their five favourite eligible albums. Fans then pick one shortlisted record through a 72-hour public vote, this year won by Michael McGovern’s Thin White Road, and the judges select the other nine.
It will be a big night for Boards of Canada, who are on the shortlist and also receive the Modern Scottish Classic Award for their 1998 debut Music Has the Right to Children. Don’t expect the duo on stage — but the SAY Award house band will perform tracks from the record with specially commissioned visuals.
The night also looks ahead with the Sound of Young Scotland prize, worth up to £10,000 towards a debut album. This year’s finalists are heavyskint, Jasmin Jet, LOLA, Nikhita and Fife’s Niamh Corkey.
Doors open at 7pm. Final tickets are on sale at sayaward.com and through Dundee City Box Office.
Update: who won from the SAY Award 2026 shortlist
The ceremony has now taken place. Aberdeen producer and DJ Nick Cronin, who records as Vagrant Real Estate, won the 2026 Scottish Album of the Year Award for Neither Collar Nor Crown, collecting the £20,000 first prize and a bespoke trophy in front of a packed Caird Hall. He beat a ten-strong SAY Award 2026 shortlist that included Boards of Canada, Barry Can’t Swim and Swim School. Accepting the award, he said the win was unexpected and paid tribute to the depth of talent across Scotland’s music scene.
The winning album brings together 25 Scottish artists, among them MC Jackill, Madhat McGore, Bemz, Iona Fyfe, Fiona Soe Paing and AiiTee, and blends hip-hop with traditional song in English and Gaelic.
Boards of Canada collected the Modern Scottish Classic Award for Music Has The Right To Children. With their new album Inferno also in the running, they became the first act in the award’s history up for two SAY prizes on the same night. Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Nikhita was named The Sound of Young Scotland. Boards of Canada join previous Modern Scottish Classic winners KT Tunstall, Paolo Nutini, Frightened Rabbit and Cocteau Twins.
The trophies were made in Dundee, too. Designer and maker Camillo Atlas, a Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design graduate, was chosen through the SAY Award Design Commission to build them from waste plastic.
The final decision rested with an independent judging panel chaired by journalist Arusa Qureshi, which included Clash Magazine editor Robin Murray. Read our full report on the SAY Award 2026 winner.
With Dundee hosting the ceremony for three years, the Caird Hall will welcome Scotland’s biggest music prize back in 2027, when the next shortlist of ten albums will be revealed.
