THE JUDGES

Miles Richardson 

Prize founder, Chair and professor of nature connection

Favourite Nature Tune:

Simple Things by Minnie Riperton

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Favourite Nature Sound: 
The blackbird’s song​

Elizabeth Alker

BBC Radio 3 Presenter and Author

Favourite Nature Tune:
is... too difficult to choose but I love the Canadian composer Jonas Bonnetta and his evocations of natural landscapes in remote parts of his home country. His album Drifting Snow conjures the wintery climes in the secluded parts of Prince Edward County. It's perfectly evocative of the temperature and the landscape so I'd chose anything from that album but maybe the track 'ii' is my favourite.

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Favourite Nature Sound: the lapping of a tide/waves gently crashing on a shore.

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Jason Singh

Sound artist, nature beatboxer, producer, DJ, performer and facilitator

Favourite Nature Tune:
The Lost Words Blessing by The Lost Words: Spell Songs. 

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Favourite Nature Sound: 

Nature is music and music is nature, for me both are one and the same. I hear and see profound rhythms and melodies appearing in birdsong, the movement of landscapes, sea, wind, architecture, language and all lifeforms. I can't help but experience everything as sound and music in some shape or form.

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Jinny Lyon 

Head of Development at The Listening Planet and Nature Recovery Specialist

Favourite Nature Tune:

Feeling Good" by Nina Simone. While it doesn’t celebrate nature in the traditional sense, I love how the lyrics link happiness to the natural world. It’s one of those songs that just feels perfect for listening outdoors.

Favourite Nature Sound: 

I’d have to choose the song of the male Blackbird. It’s a sound that feels like home to me, while being undeniably beautiful.

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Sam Lee

Mercury Prize-nominated musician and nature conservationist

Favourite Nature Tune:

‘It’s Raining Men’ (“God bless Mother Nature, she’s a single woman too”) by The Weather Girls

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Favourite Nature Sound: 

Nightingales

Melissa Harrison

Novelist and nature writer

Favourite Nature Tune:
'4 Degrees' by Antony
and the Johnsons​

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Favourite Nature Sound: 

The loud plop of a water vole entering a river: somehow these shy creature have never mastered the art of the silent entry, and their splashy sounds are often the best way to know they're there. With increasing hope for their recovery, the plop of a water vole always cheers my soul.

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Cosmo Sheldrake

Multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and producer

Favourite Nature Tune:

‘Women Gathering Mushrooms’  - Bayaka Forest People, recorded by Louis Sarno

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Favourite Nature Sound: 

Hmm that is an almost impossible question, but maybe this very particular sound that some ravens make on the West coast of Canada that sounds like a water droplet.

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Alice Boyd

Musician, sound artist and audio producer

Favourite Nature Tune:

Not sure I can pick one, but I recently saw Attacca Quartet perform Caroline Shaw’s ‘Orange’, and I had goosebumps all over.

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Favourite Nature Sound: 

“Psithurism” - the soft rustling sound of wind in the trees.