Best Art Vinyl Award 2023

28 November 2023 - Press release

A Who’s Who Of Record Cover Design Experts To Decide The Best Album Covers Of The Year

Today, Art Vinyl announces the 50 shortlisted best album covers for the 19^th Best Art Vinyl Award – theannual Art Prize for the most creative and well-designed record cover of the year. This year, for the first time, a melting pot of eight talented panelists, representing the world of record cover art past and present, have not only curated the 50-strong shortlist, but will also decide the ultimate top three winning artworks. The result, a prestigious award title for this year’s winning artist/designer and the respective music artist.

The shortlisted album artworks for 2023 will form an exhibition on 29th Nov – 1st Dec at The international art hub of The Quarterhouse, Folkestone alongside an archive of outstanding sleeve art from the past eighteen Best Art Vinyl winners. 

Final winners for 2023 will be revealed at an Awards event and unique art installation on 11^th January 2023 at The Hari in Belgravia, London.

Art Vinyl Founder Andrew Heeps comments, “After 18 years of hosting the Best Art Vinyl Awards, we felt it was time to give the final decision to the organisation’s growing network of experienced and highly talented artists and designers, whom amongst them have been responsible for some of the most memorable album covers of all time.The panel members in previous years narrowed down the shortlisted album artworks of the year, but the public vote would decide the winning record cover. Giving the final decision back to the experts was the natural progression for an Art Prize that has grown in status each year for the many creatives in the music industry.”

Last year Best Art Vinyl 2022 saw  the public vote awarding first place to Simon Monk for his artwork on Black Country New Road’s album ‘Ants From Up Here’. The winning sleeve design was just one image from a series of still life paintings he calls the ‘plastic bag paintings’. Now, as has become a recent tradition, Simon joins the judging panel for this year’s Best Art Vinyl Award.

 

With thanks to our Best Art Vinyl 2023 Judging Panel:

• Alison Fielding, Head of Creative at Beggars Group
• Andrew Heeps, Founder of Art Vinyl
• Bill Smith, Sleeve Designer and Author of Cover Stories: Five decades of Album Art     – cover art credits include The Jam, Genesis and Kate Bush
• Gerard Saint, Senior Partner of Big Active – cover art credits include Michael Jackson, Goldfrapp and Elton John. Best Art Vinyl 2013 winner for White Lies – ‘Big TV’
• Matthew Cooper, mrcooper – cover art credits include Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Noel Gallagher. Best Art Vinyl 2016 winner for Last Shadow Puppets – ‘Everything You’ve Come to Expect’
• Paul Holbrook-Phillips, True Spilt Milk Designs – artwork credits include work for Lightning Bolt, Mastiff, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Best Art Vinyl 2021 winner for Villagers ‘Fever Dreams’
• Rob O’Connor, Stylorouge Creative Consultants – cover art credits include Blur, Squeeze, Morrissey.
• Simon Monk, simonmonk.com - Winner of Best Art Vinyl 2022 for Black Country New Road ‘Ants From Up Here’

 

KEY DATES

Tuesday 28^th November: Full list of Nominated Records on www.artvinyl.com

Wednesday 29^th Nov – Friday 1^st Dec Best Art Vinyl 2023 Nominations Exhibition at The Quarterhouse,Folkestone

Saturday 6^th January – Sunday 28^th January 2023 Best Art Vinyl 2023 Nominations Installation at The Hari London, Belgravia 

Thursday 11th January 2024: Best Art Vinyl 2023 Winners will be announced at the Hari London Belgravia