Pacific Music Awards 2026 nominations are open, and this year, the stakes are high
Over two decades in, the PMAs remain the most important platform for Pacific musical excellence in Aotearoa. We’re covering every step.
Wellington, The Pacific Music Awards has announced that nominations for 2026 are open, continuing a long-running mission that began with a simple belief: Pacific music in Aotearoa deserves its own stage, its own recognition, and its own celebration.
That belief hasn't changed. What has changed is the scale of what Pacific artists are building.
The PMAs span every genre, gospel, hip-hop, reggae, R&B, contemporary, traditional, and are open to Pacific artists at any stage of their career. For many artists, a PMA nomination has been the moment the wider industry sits up and takes notice. For others, it's been the first time they felt genuinely seen within a system that wasn't originally built with them in mind.
For Kalo Block, a collective rooted in Polynesian creative culture and based right here in Wellington, the PMAs are personal. We know what it means to build something from the ground up in a city and an industry where Polynesian creatives have had to create their own infrastructure, their own spaces, their own platforms, their own recognition. The PMAs are part of that infrastructure. They matter.
We'll be covering the 2026 Pacific Music Awards from nominations through to the ceremony. If you're entering, or supporting an artist who is, we want to know. Reach out to us directly at Email us. We want to help amplify the artists our community needs to hear.
Nominations are open now at pacificmusicawards.org.nz.
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Entering the 2026 PMAs? We want to amplify our people.
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