The APRA Music Awards in Australia celebrate excellence in contemporary music, honoring songwriters and publishers who have achieved artistic excellence and outstanding success in their fields.

Several award ceremonies are run in Australia by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). In addition to the APRA Music Awards, APRA AMCOS, in association with the Australian Music Centre, presents awards for classical music, jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art, known as the Art Music Awards. It also runs, in association with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), the Screen Music Awards, to acknowledge excellence in the field of screen composition.

The APRA Music Awards were established in 1982 to honour songwriters and music composers for their efforts. The award categories are:

From 1982 to 1990, the best songs were given the Gold Award, which was also called the Special Award. In the mid-1980s Platinum Awards were given to significant works from previous years.

Song of the Year is decided by the votes of APRA members. All eligible songs must be written by an APRA member and released in the preceding calendar year for consideration. The Song of the Year award is considered one of the most prestigious of the APRA Music Awards.

Songwriter of the Year is voted by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors rewarding the songwriter who has recorded the most impressive body of work in the previous year.

The Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music' is decided by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors for a lifetime contribution. The Award is named after Ted Albert whose company Albert Productions put out records by The Easybeats, AC/DC and John Paul Young.

Breakthrough Songwriter Award is decided by APRA's Board of Writer and Publisher Directors for an emerging songwriter or groups of writers. The award category was first introduced by APRA in 2002.