My gripe against these, or any other kind of awards, is the absolute predictability and exclusiveness of them.

Let's consider the Oscars, for example. Just because Tom Cruise or Cate Blanchett win one, does that mean that they're better actors than the unknown professionals appearing in your local repetory company? No, of course not. In the same way, if Lau win "best live band", does anyone seriously believe that there's no-one in the country that's better?

Of course, opinions are subjective; you can't compare Lau with, for instance, The Claque and say that one is better than the other; it's a matter of taste. That's why the awards are meaningless.

I can imagine the conversation that goes on around the judging table: "Well, of course we have to nominate Eliza's album, but maybe someone else should win this year? And Rachel had her turn last time; now we should give Jackie a chance?" Who are the judges? They're not, by any chance, agents and managers of some of the artists are they? (What a nasty suspicious mind I have!)

My solution would be to scrap them and replace them with a show that features all sorts of folk performers, famous and otherwise. That would REALLY represent what's going on in the UK folk scene.