In preparation for its fourth annual awards ceremony, the Music Producers Guild has added two awards categories to its 2012 event, bringing the total number of awards to 17.

The new categories – International Engineer of the Year and International Remixer of the Year – reflect the global reach of the music industry and are designed to recognise the talent and creativity of the professional recording community worldwide. The International categories, which also include International Producer of the Year, are open to all producers, engineers and remixers, regardless of their country of origin.

There have also been some changes to existing Awards categories, notably the Joe Meek Award being renamed the Joe Meek Legacy Award, to be presented on the basis of a body of work rather than for innovation, as was the case in previous years.

Another key change is to the Live Award category, which has been renamed the Live Production Award reflecting the fact that nominated projects can now include live music released on CD or DVD or as a radio or television broadcast.

The full list of awards categories is as follows:

The Joe Meek Legacy Award
Outstanding Contribution to UK Music, sponsored by PPL
Producer of the Year, sponsored by the BPI
Recording Engineer of the Year
Mix Engineer of the Year
Mastering Engineer of the Year
Live Production of the Year
UK Album of the Year
UK Single of the Year
Remixer of the Year
Breakthrough Producer of the Year
Breakthrough Engineer of the Year
International Producer of the Year
International Engineer of the Year
International Remixer of the Year
Best Studio
Unsung Hero

Again the winner of the Producer of the Year category will automatically win a BRIT Award for Best Producer.

Last year’s sell out event attracted more than 300 stars and music industry VIPs, to celebrate the contribution that recording professionals make to the success of the UK music industry.

The Music Producers Guild Awards 2012 will be held next February at the Cafe de Paris, London.

More: www.mpg.org.uk