About

A: The Syracuse Area Music Awards, or Sammys, are an annual effort to honor Syracuse musicians for their accomplishments with awards. In general, the Sammys are like the Grammys of Syracuse and the surrounding region. It is the goal of the Sammys to have an annual awards show to give out the awards.

A: Awards are selected from a pool of submissions Syracuse musicians send in to the Sammys each year. In order to ensure impartiality with the awards, a third party group considers submissions for awards, independent of the Sammys board or anyone involved in planning the awards show. In the past, judging has been done by a panel of judges selected by Andrew Russo, accomplished classical pianist and head of the Le Moyne music department. Awards are judged for their aesthetic quality and the degree to which they add new energy to the Syracuse music scene.

A: All bands and artists in the Syracuse area and the surrounding region are elligible for an award if they recorded an album during the previous year. Instructions for submitting albums for consideration are available on this site under the "Submissions" section, and are almost always included in the Syracuse New Times during the months prior to the award show.

A: The People's Choice Award is a special award determined by popular vote. The Syracuse New Times has in the past printed ballots for the award, but as of 2007 the Sammys has implemented a Web voting system.

A: All bands and site viewers are elligible to vote for themselves or others for the People's Choice. Simply type the name of who you want to vote for into the vote field to get your band added to the list if it isn't already there. The votes are eventually audited in case people spelled a band name incorrectly, or in case the votes cast were found to break any of the rules listed on the voting page.

A: As with all questions you have for the Sammys, please visit our "Contact" page to send us an email.

A: All of those awards are based on the deliberation of the board with counsel from a wide variety of advisors involved in the local music scene. These awards are meant to honor musicians who have made a truly outstanding effort in the Syracuse music scene, and are an effort for the Sammys board to give thanks to the Syracuse music community.