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The 25th Annual Asbury Music Awards returns to the legendary Stone Pony 6 p.m. Thursday.

Presented by The Saint and Asbury Music Co, the best of local event doubles as a jam packed lineup of the talents who made their mark over the course of the past year.

Comedian Taylor Allen is back as master of ceremonies, with featured performances by  Waiting On Mongo, The Burns, Dentist (Band), the Double Negatives, Black Suburbia, Sekond Skyn, The Cold Seas, Billy Walton Band, We’re Ghosts Now, Bone and Marrow, Tara Dente, Avery Mandeville, and Sonic Blume.

The Asbury Park music scene staple event launched in 1993 at the former T-Birds Cafe on Main Street in Asbury Park. The Saint’s Scott Stamper and Peter Mantas, entertainment director at Langosta Lounge and the Asbury Park Yacht Club on the AP Boardwalk, started the award event as a way to give back to the hard-working musicians, singer-songwriters, artists and the community that supports them, with particular attention to new and original music and acts ever-evolving in the city and across the Jersey Shore.

Inspired from his time attending SXSW and the Austin Music Awards, which began back in 1989, Stamper said he wanted the event be a night that honored family and friends.

“Everyone starts off with family and friends that come out to support the bands,” Stamper said. “Even back then, our music scene was exploding. But, we are light years from what it is now. Back then there were really just a handful of local scenes one good play as opposed to now with so many venues.

Stamper said he and a friend calculated over 300 bands from Red Bank to Toms River that play in Asbury park on a regular basis.

Today the awards night stay firmly in its mission – a night when everyone can come together in celebration.

“Everyone gets together for one night a year,” he said. “I still think that’s the power of the evening. The performances by the bands, that is showing who we are; the live performances and what it took to get there from a viewpoint from the family and friends.”

Through the years, the Asbury Music Awards [AMA] is among the first accolade given to burgeoning talents who have gone on to national recognition. This year, there will be close to 50 award presentations, with new categories and special guest presenters.

Artists who have progressed on to a major label or those who have won or been nominated for five consecutive years in a particular category may remain eligible for “Record of The Year” and the “Best Thing To Happen in Asbury Park” categories, but they are removed from being nominated from most other categories in order to make room for new and emerging talents, organizers have said.

This year, those artists include No Wine For Kittens, Arlan Feiles, Accidental Seabirds, Emily Grove, Eryn O’Ree, Francis Lombardi, Karmic Juggernaut, the Mad Feather Group, Predator Dub Assassins, Rick Barry, Ropetree, the Black Clouds, the Sunday Blues, Toothgrinder, Turtle Soup, chemtrail, Sekond Skyn, the Matt Wade Band, and Quincy Mumford & the Reason Why.

Organizers work throughout the year with a wide array of music industry professionals comprised of the artists, labels, writers, radio stations, print media, festivals, agents, promoters, and publishers in order craft a platform that recognizes all possible genres.

“A whole lot goes on behind the scenes on a year-round basis in planning and preparation for the Asbury Music Awards,” organizers have said. “Working smarter, not just harder, means achievement of greater success for the greatest number of artists.”

The nominees and performers are selected by a panel of industry veterans. A closed ballot voting is underway by a panel that represents area venues, musicians, music-related businesses, record stores, radio stations, newspapers and the fans themselves.

There are recognitions for area poets, comedians, radio personalities, music writers, and the venues and websites that support the industry, as well as the Best Thing to Happen to Rock n Roll and the Best Thing to Happen in Asbury Park. In the Top New Artist category cB3, Crust, Darkwing, Dirty, Brody vs the People, Dan Amato & the Sentimental Gentlemen, Fungkshui, Sunshine Spazz, Latewaves, the Double Negatives, ‘Preacher’ star Ian Colletti, Le Mats, the Dead Flowers, and Wetbrain.

To view the full list of this year’s nominees, click here. The $20 advance tickets are now on sale via The Saint and The Stone Pony box offices and websites.

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