The Asbury Park Music Awards is an annual award ceremony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States that recognizes musicians for their work. Asbury Park's musical history includes a strong blues tradition and the Jersey Shore sound. Artists associated with the town include Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Bon Jovi, and many others. To recognize musicians and others associated with the local and regional music scene, Scott Stamper, founder of the Wave GatheringMusic Festival, and Pete Mantas founded the annual Asbury Park Music Awards in 1993. The awards were originally titled the Golden T-Bird Awards. announcing awards at the 2012 Asbury Music Awards ceremony They held the first award ceremony in 1993, at a small club on Main Street in Asbury Park called the T-Bird Cafe, owned by Stamper. The awards ceremony later moved to The Saint, and in 1995 the organizers renamed it the Asbury Park Music Awards. Attendance quickly exceeded The Saint's capacity, and the ceremony began to rotated among larger venues, including The Fastlane and The Tradewinds. In recent years, the ceremony has been held at The Stone Pony. The awards ceremony follows a format similar to the Grammy Awards, interspersing award presentations with live performances of original music and poetry. Award categories vary from year to year, but generally include Top Young Band, Top Male Acoustic Act, Top Jam Band, Top Male Vocalist, Top Blues Band, Top Female Acoustic, Top Radio/Internet Station to Support Live Music, Top Advant Garde Act, Top Indie Rock Band, Top Female Vocalist, Top Heavy Rock Act, Top Punk/Ska Band, Top Groove Band, Poet Laureate, Top Multi Instrumentalist/Other Instruments, Top Live Performance, Top Americana, Top Rock Band, Top Pop Band, Top Local Release, Top Keyboard Player, Top Bassist, Top Drummer, Top Guitarist, Top Radio Personality to Support Live Music, Song of the Year, Top Journalist In Support of Live Music, Top News Publication in Support of Live Music, Top Music Website in Support of Live Original Music, Best Thing to Happen in , Top Local Club DJ, Beyond Asbury Top Record/EP/Single/Release, Living Legend 2010 James M. Macdonald Award, and Behind the ScenesLifetime Achievement Award.
