Highland piping and pipe bands at the forefront of 2025 Scots Trad Music Awards

The 2025 Scots Trad Music Awards will be presented on December 6th at a gala event at the Music Hall in Aberdeen, Scotland, and, while Highland pipe music touched every aspect, this year’s nominees include a solid representation of Highland pipers.

The awards are organized by Hands Up for Trad and have been running annually since 2003. At the nomination stage, the general public is invited to submit names of artists, bands, albums, organizations, events, tutors, and venues for each award category. This year, nominations ran from October 8 to 19.

Nominees can be from any country. Following the nominations stage, the organizers determine a shortlist. As with almost all non-data-driven awards, one can’t win unless nominated.

Here are the short-listed nominees for the 2025 Scots Music Awards that are more directly related to Highland piping:

Pipe Band of the Year

• Glasgow Skye Association (Scotland)
• Lochgelly High School Novice Juvenile A (Scotland)
• St. John’s College (Zimbabwe)

Album of the Year

• Sunwise – Brìghde Chaimbeul
• Pool – Ross Ainslie

Folk Band of the Year

• Breabach

Musician of the Year

• Lorne MacDougall

Trad Music in the Media 

• The Big Rab Show

Venue of the Year

• Park Bar, Glasgow

You can vote here. Voting closes November 16th.

Inductees into the Scots Trad Music Hall of Fame will be announced at the December 6th gala. Recipients are selected by a panel and not a public vote.

The Scots Trad Music Awards were created to highlight and promote Scottish traditional music “in all its forms,” and to create “a high-profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media and public attention.”

Previous Highland piping winners include Inveraray & District (twice), Craig Muirhead, Allan MacDonald, Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia, Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia, and Jim Kilpatrick.

Pre-2025 Scots Trad Music Hall of Fame piping/drumming inductees:

• Martyn Bennett*
• Robert U. Brown*
• John D. Burgess*
• Gordon Duncan*
• Ian Duncan
• Alasdair Gillies*
• Murray Henderson
• Jim Kilpatrick
• Rona Lightfoot
• Iain MacDonald (Glenuig)
• Iain MacFadyen
• Iain MacLellan
• Donald MacLeod*
• Roddy MacLeod
• Donald MacPherson*
• Neil Macpherson
• Willie McCallum
• G.S. McLennan*
• Fred Morrison
• Robert B. Nicol*
• Richard Parkes
• Dougie Pincock
• Gary West
• A. John Wilson

* Posthumously awarded