For the second year in a row, the Choice Music Prize has included an 'Breakthrough Irish Artist of the Year' and today the five nominees for the award have been announced.

The Choice Music Prize ceremony  is billed to take place in March at Vicar St, where the following hopefuls for Breakthrough Irish Artist of the Year will be crossing their fingers, and toes to be named:

49th & Main
Jazzy
John Francis Flynn
ØXN
The Scratch

The event is set to take place on Thursday, March 7. It will also be broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM, with a TV special set to air on RTÉ2 later that month.

Jazzy holds the unique position of being named on the shortlist for both the Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award and the Irish Artist of the Year Award.

ØXN also are in a similar position, as half of the band's members make up the much hyped folk group Lankum,  who have been nominated for two of the Choice Prize's five categories; Artist of the year and the coveted grand prize of Album of the Year.

The shortlist for the 2023 Irish Album of the Year category was announced yesterday, which comes with not only the prestige and boost received from winning Irish Album of The Year, but a €10,000 cash prize to boot. Previous winners including Denise Chaila, Two Door Cinema Club and The Divine Comedy.

There are five categories in the Choice Music Prize. They are: Irish Album of the Year, Irish Song of the Year, Irish Artist of the Year, Breakthrough Irish Artist and Classic Album.

The short list is compiled by a number of panels drawn from the Irish music media and industry, instead of using sales or airplay as criteria, the Choice Music Prize judges are supposed to focus, simply and solely, on the music.

"The RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an important annual event in the wider Irish music landscape, and we’re delighted to be able to continue to celebrate all that is great about Irish music and Irish artists," comments RTÉ 2FM’s Head of Music, Adam Fogarty.

Fogarty continues saying: "The inclusion of the ‘Irish Artist of the Year’, ‘Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year’ and ‘Classic Irish Album’ categories for the 2nd year running, coupled with the longstanding ‘Irish Song of the Year’ and the preeminent ‘Irish Album of the Year’ prizes allow us to more broadly represent the incredible past, present and exciting future of Irish music..."