2018 was a great year for Irish music with some fantastic new albums released by both well-known and up-and-coming Irish talent.

The shortlist for this year's RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2018 was announced today on RTÉ 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show by Tony Clayton-Lea, chairman of the judging panel.

The shortlist is as follows:

The Academic - Tales From The Backseat (ROOM6 Records)
Delorentos - True Surrender (Delo Records)
Just Mustard – Wednesday (Pizza Pizza Records)
Kojaque - Deli Daydreams (Soft Boy Records)
O Emperor - Jason (Big Skin Records)
Lisa O’Neill - Heard A Long Gone Song (River Lea Recordings)
Saint Sister - Shape Of Silence (Trout Records)
Rejjie Snow - Dear Annie (BMG)
Villagers - The Art Of Pretending To Swim (Domino Recording Co)
Wyvern Lingo - Wyvern Lingo (Ruby Works)

The Choice Music Prize has become one of the music industry highlights of the year since its inception in 2005. The Irish Album of the Year award is chosen from a shortlist of ten albums by a panel of twelve Irish music media professionals and industry experts.

The shortlisted albums can be enjoyed in full on the RTÉ Choice Music Prize website www.choicemusicprize.ie and on www.2fm.ie/rtechoicemusic.

The winning album will be announced at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event, held in Vicar Street, Dublin on Thursday 7th March and broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM in a special four-hour extended show from 7-11pm. A special television programme of the event will be broadcast shortly afterwards on RTÉ2.

Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event are on sale now from all Ticketmaster outlets and from https://www.ticketmaster.ie priced €28.00 including booking fee.