This month's interview is with Barry Middleton, one of the founder members of the Nottingham Blues Society and Chairperson of the new British Blues Awards. Barry took some time out to talk to us about the Awards, and what he hopes they will achieve for British Blues.

Q: So, Barry, finally a British Blues Awards. How did the idea come about?

Until 2002 The British Blues Awards had been run by Blues in Britain Magazine for some un explained reason they then stopped, at the same time I had been running a yearly award at The Running Horse called “The Dogs Bollocks Awards” the name of a beer we were selling, they were always very popular and many people over the years have asked why there isn’t one now.

Q: Why do you think it has taken so long for these to be established?

It is the same old thing with good ideas,” let’s wait someone will do it”, so the committee of The NBSoc discussed the idea and decided to do it, we all agreed that after 8 years it should be back on the blues agenda.

With the technology that is available now, it was relatively easy to set up and co-ordinate the voting process accurately.

Q: What do you hope the awards might achieve?

Anything that gets people talking about blues music and artists has to be good for the genre as well as getting The NBSoc into the public eye, there are always people who will say “but what have you done for the blues”.

It is hoped that by getting to far more voters than anyone has ever done before (via the internet) we will get a far more accurate reflection from the blues voters than ever before. We are working hard to spread the word throughout the UK by contacting radio stations, blues related websites and venues and clubs etc.

Q: What format will they take?

The Awards will be via the web site (http://www.britishbluesawards.com) initially we will accept nominations up to April 30th the second stage will be when the top four or five nominations will go into the voting stage.

Q: How can people nominate and vote?

They can put forward their nominations right now by going to http://www.britishblueswards.com and filling in the form. Later in the year they will be able to return and vote for the top nominees.

Q: Have you learned anything about music awards from watching the Brits of the Grammys?

Many other awards ceremonies have the nominees selected by the perceived elite in whatever field it is, be that music, movies, television, books, the arts in general. The British Blues Awards are different in that all categories are nominated by the fans of blues music and will be voted on by the fans of blues music.

Q: Which artists would you expect to be among the front runners for the awards?

As Chairperson of the NBSoc it would be wrong of me to name anyone but after eight years I think we can expect to see a mixture of both old and new names being nominated in all categories.

Q: Do you have a favourite category?

I don’t have a favourite as I believe that all of the categories are each in their own way as important as each other.

Q: When will the winners be announced?

This is yet to be confirmed, depending on the interest during the nomination stage we might be able to attract sponsors for an award ceremony.

Q: Will it be just a title or will there be a ceremony and trophy?

At this moment in time it will be a title, but we are always open to sponsorship, if we do manage to attract sponsors we will have some sort of ceremony, obviously this all depends on the response from the voters the better the response the better the chance we have of having an Awards Ceremony.

Q: Is there a lifetime achievement award? (Even Derek may be too young for that one!)

No we do not have a lifetime achievement award, but this is something we could add at any time.

Q: Tell us more about the people behind the awards; the Nottingham Blues Society?

The Nottingham Blues Society was established in October 2009, when I approached six or seven like minded people with the idea of forming a blues society in Nottingham, who’s blues scene was dwindling and needed dragging back into the twenty first century, with the ideas we had of centralising a blues base of venues and blues fans through a blues society web site and newsletter also getting the blues into schools and colleges in Nottinghamshire hit home to enough blues fans to form a committee.

Not just any people but people who were willing to work to establish the blues society in a city, devoid of a base for the music they loved, since the recession started to bite and the live music scene began to suffer with venues closing all over Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands.

The Executive Committee consists of Sue Hickling (Secretary) whose enthusiasm keeps everyone focused on the jobs they are asked to do, Simon Gledhill (Treasurer) who looks after our new members and the accounts, Tony Winfield blues photographer, who is also the webmaster and Awards co-ordinator and myself the Chairperson.

Many thanks for your time, Barry.