The local music community’s biggest annual party — the San Diego Music Awards (SDMA) — will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year on Sunday, Sept. 12. Honoring the area’s top local acts in 27 categories, ranging from best tribute band to song of the year, the awards cover the time period of July 1, 2009 to June 30 of this year. The awards ceremony covers a lot of territory, making for a good barometer of the state of the local music scene and creating a fun night out. The event returns to Humphreys by the Bay after a four-year run at Vieja’s Concerts in the Park, with performers set to include The Night Marchers, Erika Davies, Maren Parusel, The Nervous Wreckords, New Mexico and Transfer. Meanwhile, the evening’s lifetime achievement award will be presented to the iconic 1960s group Iron Butterfly. Proceeds from the San Diego Music Awards go to support Taylor Guitars in Schools programs, with a total of 1,424 “Baby” Taylor guitars donated to date. With Ocean Beach and Point Loma being well known as centers for the arts, it’s only natural that several area residents are among the 2010 nominees. Jason Ott, frontman with Led Zeppelin cover group Dazed and Confused, snagged the “Best Tribute Band” category in 2009 and the group finds itself nominated once again. “Our win was totally unexpected, but it was awesome,” Ott said. For his band, the award was a major boon. “We definitely saw an increase in fans right away and we moved up to headliner status at some of the bigger clubs in town,” Ott said. “This is all stuff that was like a dream to me and I think winning [at] the San Diego Music Awards was one of the things that helped us achieve it.” Bassist Sol Turpin has now been nominated twice in the “Best Tribute Band” category with the Sublime tribute act of 40 Oz. To Freedom and the Cure tribute combo The Cured, though he recently left both to concentrate on his own band, Safety Orange. Turpin also performed at the awards ceremony in 2002, backing his younger sisters, Anna and Lindsey Troy. “The [San Diego] Music Awards? They’re a good thing,” Turpin said. “It lets people know that some of the bigger bands out there are from here, and helps newer groups get noticed. It adds hype to the scene — in a good way — putting extra focus on the musicians from the area. It can’t hurt.” Al Howard, frontman for The Heavy Guilt, nominated in the category of “Best Pop Album” for the disc “Let Us Up From This,” has won several SDMA trophies with his previous group, the K23 Orchestra. From 2003 to 2005, the band took home three awards in the”Best Hip Hop” category, while he’s also previously been nominated in the “World Music Category.” His songs are best described as a mix of traditional folk and blues, crossed with psychedelia, rock influences and strong melodic hooks. “I have been in different categories in the past, but I’m good with the ‘pop’ category,” Howard said. “The Beatles were pop, that works for me.” As for the fate of his previous trophies? “I think they’re at our drummer’s house,” Howard said. “He had the most place to store things, so he’s got all the band memorabilia.” For Howard, the best part of the show is the live performances. “It’s cool to acknowledge things that are happening in the music community,” Howard said. “But what I enjoy most is the live performances. There is always such an interesting mix of performers. This year, I’m looking forward to the sets from Transfer and Erika Davies.” Howard also notes the value of a large part of the music community coming together in one place. “I’ve always been an anti-social person,” Howard said. “I don’t really like large crowds of people, but this is great. Whether it’s a band or promoter or music-business people in general, they’re all there. You have a chance to meet or share ideas with so many people in different aspects of the business.”