Like George Bush appealing to Congress for help with his financial package, we need your votes. But, we promise, this process will not end up costing you $700bn. Guardian.co.uk/music and Film&Music only want you to choose your favourite British debut album of the past year, not bail out the banks.
The Guardian First Album Award has no sponsor, so you can be sure no shady money-men are pressuring us to pick a particular album or film in return for kickbacks. Our judging panel consists solely of you and our critics, so there is no risk of celebrity judges nudging us towards their mates' work. Indeed, so free of the shackles of corporate cash are these awards that we don't even have a prize (we might buy cheap trophies for the winners from the shop around the corner). In short, we want to make it all about quality.
Throughout October, you have the opportunity to nominate your British debut albums — just email your nominations to first.album@theguardian.com. Feel free to include some supporting text arguing why each deserves the award.
The album must be a genuine debut album by a British artist released between October 1 2007 and September 30 2008. "Genuine debut" means no side projects - so the Last Shadow Puppets and Neon Neon are not eligible - and no albums made by someone who previously released albums with a different group. There's a little leeway: if your favourite album featured bass-playing by someone who happened to have been on another album three years ago, we can allow that. But if it's a songwriter moving from group to group, that's a no-no. We're trying to recognise new talent here.
At the end of October, our critics will look at your nominations and whittle them down to 10 albums. If you didn't nominate it, it won't be on the shortlist. And if you overwhelmingly back some works, we will not ignore your feelings.
We'll then publish the shortlists and invite you to vote for the winners, with voting closing at the end of November. Your votes will count for half the total, and our critics' votes will count for the other half. We're weighting it that way not because we don't trust you, but because we don't want publicists or organised lobbies to be able to hijack the voting process. The shortlists will be announced in October, and the winners will be unveiled on December 19.
Just to prod your memories, here are some of the eligible contenders …
Perhaps you loved the epic rock of Glasvegas or the pop-soul of Duffy and Adele. Wispier indie types might want to shout out for Noah and the Whale or Laura Marling. Then again, you might have been bowled over by the Ting Tings, or greased up your quiff in the company of Kitty, Daisy and Lewis or Vincent Vincent and the Villains. Or was 2008 all about the clinical 80s sounds of Datassette?
Who will you be pitching in for? Make your case here (and don't forget to nominate via email) and you might prompt an outpouring of support for your favourite album…
