IT’S BEEN a strange month.

The Smithwicks/Hot Press Awards are normally an occasion for celebration – and for the most part this year was no exception. Indeed by common consent the combined Awards ceremony, gig and party was one of the hottest tickets of the year – and one of the most enjoyable occasions (see The Phantom’s report for more on this score).

However the build-up to the Awards had not been without controversy. To put it simply, someone screwed up: on the subject of the Video Award, a press release was sent out which gave inaccurate information to journalists, stating that Sack were the winners. Separately, a comment was made which gave the impression – or was construed as giving the impression – that Dustin, the TV puppet, had ‘won’ the Vincent Hanly National Radio and Television Award but that the organisers had decided that this was inappropriate.

There was no truth in either suggestion.

In 1981, Jackie Hayden, who was then working for Wilson Hartnell PR, approached Hot Press with the idea of initiating an Irish music industry awards scheme. The object of the exercise would be to celebrate the creative achievements of Irish musicians both at home and abroad, and in doing so to do something tangible on a national level to make the Irish public aware of just how significant the international inroads being made at the time by artists like Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, The Chieftains, The Boomtown Rats and U2 were.

It was a different world then. To a large extent in 1994 people are inclined to take the existence of an Irish music industry for granted. They assume that Irish acts have a kind of divine right to be given the once-over by A&R operatives and talent scouts. And they believe that the world is doing them some terrible kind of injustice if no one is willing to give their favourite act a record deal.

But those assumptions would have seemed like a civilization away in 1981. There was no Irish music industry worth speaking of. Irish acts found it almost impossible to achieve international success from an Irish base. And in media terms, Hot Press was ploughing a pretty lonely furrow in highlighting and championing contemporary Irish music. Against that background, the Award Press would spill over into the national media. It could be a significant blow for the cause.

And so it proved. The initial sponsors were Stag and with their early backing the idea got off the ground. Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, U2, Clannad and Paul Brady were among the early winners, as well as legendary acts like The Blades, The Undertones and The Radiators From Space. In 1982 Jackie Hayden moved from Wilson Hartnell to join Hot Press and our commitment to the Awards intensified even further.

Long after the Hot Press Awards were up and running successfully, the National Entertainment Awards and the IRMA Awards were invented as more mainstream alternatives. But the original Irish music awards grew and developed steadily, making a giant leap forward with the introduction of Smithwicks as co-sponsors in 1989.

The Awards had always been decided on the basis of the votes of a select panel of music critics and DJs from Hot Press, 2FM and the national newspapers. However with the increased backing of Smithwicks, Jackie Hayden argued for the broadest possible representation, with writers from provincial newspapers, from local radio stations and from north of the border being brought on board. It proved to be a further boost for both the prestige and the profile of the Awards, the importance of which was greatly enhanced by their credibility: no one, as Christy Moore so memorably put it a couple of years ago, was ever asked could they pick up a Smithwicks/Hot Press Award before they were told that they’d won.

As organisers of the Awards, we have always believed this to be absolutely central. The panel votes. The winners are informed. And after that, they’re asked whether or not they can make it on the night. And in what we have consistently felt was one of the best endorsements the Awards could receive, a remarkable number have . . .

It was against that background that the controversy this year

took place. And it was consistent with the personal responsibility he has always taken as the originator and the co-ordinator of these Awards that Jackie refused to scapegoat any individual but instead took full responsibility for the confusion which had arisen in relation to both the Video Award and the Vincent Hanly National Radio and TV Award.

The bottom line in this regard was simple. Therapy? had won the Video Award by a considerable margin from Sack and so the award had to go to them. And Mike Moloney had also secured the highest number of votes in the Vincent Hanly National Radio and Television Award – again by a very comfortable majority. The fact that another impression had been given along the way was irrelevant. True, it would have been possible to avoid controversy by giving the Awards to the wrong people – but that option was not even considered. The integrity of the panel’s decision was paramount.

This was explained to any journalist who asked. It was also made clear to Therapy?’s manager Gerry Harford in advance of the Awards ceremony – that Therapy? had got the most votes and that they were the real and legitimate winners of the Video Award. On the night Harford chose to pass the Award to Sack, a gesture which could be interpreted either as a snub to the organisers, or as a decent statement of goodwill towards one of Ireland’s brightest new acts.

Either way it provided a hook for much of the coverage in the following day’s nationals. But where others dealt fairly with the issues, the Evening Press carried a piece by Dermott Hayes clearly implying that Sack had got more votes for their ‘What Did The Christians Ever Do For Us’ video than Therapy? had for ‘Screamager’. In an apparent attempt to link this to the notion that there might have been some kind of commercial gain in the allaged ‘switch’ for Hot Press, Hayes stated that Therapy? “grace the cover of Hot Press this week”.

He was wrong on this, as well as the major count. But he hadn’t bothered to make the simple phone call necessary to check who was on the cover.

In a separate piece Kim Billenberg stated that “Sack had in fact got more votes from the judges.” And he also alleged that “the turkey (Dustin) finished way ahead of the opposition but the organisers refused to give him the prize and it was handed to young Mike Moloney of 2FM.”

And separately, it emerged that Dermott Hayes had been on City Limits on Anna Livia radio the previous Saturday morning, making some extradinary statements. “Music critics awards would actually be very genuine,” he said, “if what was happening was you know if what I put down on paper was what ended up as the award really.”

He also went on to allege that the person responsible for collating the votes couldn’t count, suggesting that something “very bizarre” happens between when the votes are cast and the awards are given out. This is a grossly defamatory statement, for which there isn’t even a shred of evidence. The question for Jackie Hayden and for Hot Press was: what should we do about it?

In the event, both Anna Livia FM and the Evening Press agreed

to issue an apology and clarification. On the City Limits programme on Saturday 19th February, the following statement was read out:

“During the course of an interview on City Limits on Saturday 5 February views were expressed and allegations were made by the interviewee concerning voting procedures at the Smithwicks/Hot Press Music Critics Awards.

Anna Livia would point out these were not the views of the station and accepts that these allegations were made without foundation. Anna Livia FM regrets any embarrassment or distress caused to the sponsors of the awards or to Jackie Hayden, General Manager of Hot Press and administrator of the voting procedures.

Jackie Hayden has been invited to appear on a future edition of City Limits to discuss the history and development of the Smithwicks/Hot Press Awards.”

And just before Hot Press was put to bed, it was agreed that the Evening Press would print the following, in their edition of Tuesday February 22nd under the heading: “HOT PRESS – MUSIC CRITICS AWARDS.

“In relation to our reports in the Evening Press (February 9) on the Smithwicks/Hot Press Music Cricits Awards we are assured by Hot Press, that the bands that got the Awards on the night were the ones for whom the most votes were originally cast. We are happy to accept this and apologise to Jackie Hayden, co-ordinator of the Awards for any doubts which were cast on the integrity of the voting procedure. We wish the Smithwicks/Hot Press Music Critics Awards every success in the coming year.”

While concluding any dispute between Hot Press and Anna Livia FM and the Evening Press, these clarifications, in fact, leave a couple of loose ends to be tied up yet. They do, however, put us in a position where we can state categorically that the integrity of the Smithwicks/Hot Press Awards has been vindicated. Now the onus is on us to ensure that there are no fuck-ups next year. Well, there won’t be . .

In a report on the Friday night before the Awards, Dermott

Hayes wrote that Smithwicks involvement in the Awards was under threat. On the night of the Awards, Conor McDonald of Smithwicks confirmed, from the stage, the sponsors’ absolute and unequivocal commitment to the Smithwicks/Hot Press Awards for 1994. The intention, he elaborated, was to make them bigger and better than ever.

Subsequent to the Awards night, I spoke to Gerry Harford, manager of Therapy?. “There was never any intention on the band’s part to question the integrity of the person who collates the votes,” he told me. “Obviously there was a mistake along the way but I’m very glad to hear that Therapy? got the most votes. If we won the Award fair and square, we won it. You don’t by any chance have a spare award you can give us, do you?”!

There’s always next year, my man. There’s always next year.

• Niall Stokes

Editor, Hot Press