In the middle of all this whingeing I'd like to say congratulations to all the artists nominated, shortlisted and the winners.

In my view the Awards celebrate folk music and bring people together for a good time which is no bad thing. They also raise awareness of the genre which no amount of playing in the back room of a pub would do.

In running Awards there are many different ways of creating a shortlist and whichever way you choose to do it you will get complaints. I know that to be a fact as I am involved in the multi genre Yorkshire Gig Guide Grassroots Awards! We do it differently to the folk awards (in that we have public nominations and votes followed by a judging panel to choose between the top 5 nominations) but still a small minority complain about the outcome. However the atmosphere in the room on the night of the Awards makes it worth while. In our case our Awards are a way of celebrating the riches we have in the Yorkshire live music scene. Though they do it differently (and I only occasionally agree with the results) the Folk Awards do the same for the music we purport to love