For the fifth consecutive year, Smithsonian Folkways has earned multiple Independent Music Awards as selected by a panel of judges:

• Best Bluegrass Album: The Dust Busters with John Cohen - Old Man Below. Dust Busters mentor and Ramblers elder John Cohen joins Eli Smith, Walker Shepard, and Craig Judelman in this solidly grounded, future-looking album of classic melodies that makes the legacy of yesterday the sound of today.
• Best Compilation Album: Woody Guthrie - Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection. This compilation is an in-depth commemorative collection of songs, photos and essays on one of America’s most treasured 20th-century icons.
• Best Reissue Album: Louis Armstrong, Tyree Glenn, Tommy Gwaltney - Satchmo at the National Press Club: Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours. Jazz icon Louis Armstrong turned a 1971 award ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington DC into an impromptu performance captured on this recording.
• Best Latin Song: "Volveré (I Will Return)" by La Sardina de Naiguatá on ¡Parranda! Venezuelan Carnival Music. This song is an example of Afro-Caribbean drumming traditions mixed with brass, electric bass, keyboard, and women’s chorus.
• Best Album Packaging: Visual Dialogue - Woody Guthrie - Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection. 150-page large-format book with 3 CDs containing 57 tracks, including 21 previously unreleased performances and six never-before-heard original songs.
• Best Swag (promotional material) Visual Dialogue - "Woody at 100 Limited-Edition T-Shirt" Designed by Fritz Klaetke, art director for Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection.

According to the International Music Awards, these projects are awarded for the totality of artistic excellence based on originality, musicianship, musicality, vocals, recording quality, and other categories.

Additionally, eleven Smithsonian Folkways entries were nominated as finalists for the 12th Independent Music Awards. Finalists are eligible for the Vox Populi, “voice of the people”, awards, determined by fan voting. Voting is open until midnight on Friday, July 19. Submit your votes by clicking on the links next to the nominations below and by giving each entry a 5 star rating (registration required).

• Chip Taylor & The Grandkids - "Golden Kids' Rules" from Golden Kids’ Rules (Children’s Music Song) Click here to vote!
• Elizabeth Mitchell - Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie (Children’s Music Album) Click here to vote!
• La Sardina de Naiguatá - ¡Parranda! Venezuelan Carnival Music (Latin Album) Click here to vote!
• Los Texmaniacs - Texas Towns & Tex-Mex Sounds (Latin Album) Click here to vote!
• Los Tres Reyes - Romancing The Past (Latin Album) Click here to vote!
• Pete Seeger - The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960 (Live Performance Album) Click here to vote!
• Stephen Wade - Banjo Diary: Lessons from Tradition (Bluegrass Album) Click here to vote!
• Visual Dialogue - folkways.si.edu (Music Website) Click here to vote!
• Visual Dialogue - "Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection" (Poster) Click here to vote!
• Wu Man & Abdulla Majnun - "Shadiana (Celebration)" on Music of Central Asia Vol. 10: Borderlands: Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route(World Traditional Song) Click here to vote!
• Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route - "Music of Central Asia Vol. 10: Borderlands" (Long Form Music Video) Click here to vote!