As Flagpole's Gordon Lamb noted a few weeks back, nominations for the second annual Vic Chesnutt Songwriter of the Year Award are currently open. 

To be eligible for the award, songwriters must live in Athens or surrounding counties and have released the submitted song in 2017. Nominations may be made until Mar. 31, after which a panel of music-industry judges will narrow the list down to five finalists.

To nominate yourself or another local songwriter, visit this link. 

Last year's inaugural award went to Andrew Huang of local band Mosaic, with the other finalists being Drew Albenesius, Dana Downs, Erin Lovett and Sarah Zúñiga. The winner of this year's honor will receive a generous prize package, including $1,000 in cash, studio time and more goodies.

This year's award ceremony will take place at The Foundry on Thursday, May 17. More information about the award, which is presented by Classic City Rotary in memory of local folk-music legend Chesnutt, can be found on the Rotary's website.