The short answer to dull awards shows

When music industry veteran Tom Sarig says, “The world really doesn’t need another awards show,” the world nods along with him. But when he adds “unless it was one that is really different,” he better expect a global roll of the eyes.

Sure, awards galas ask for the envelope all the time, but how often do they push it?

“We are doing something different here, though,” maintains Sarig, co-founder of a growing endeavor called the Shortlist Music Prize, which is now in its third year of finding some high ground in the crowded awards-gala landscape.

Today, the Shortlist folks will announce their 10 finalists for the 2004 prize, which comes with $10,000 and a growing amount of press attention, which bodes well for Sarig’s trophy (it’s called the Shorty, by the way -- some award cliches apparently never go out of style).

A sneak peek at the finalist list shows admirable eclecticism, with the red-hot Scots who call themselves Franz Ferdinand sharing space with revitalized country-music icon Loretta Lynn and the hip-hop maverick Ghostface Killah.

Just as interesting as the list of finalists is the panel of judges who shaped it. The listmakers this year included Norah Jones, Jack Black, Jim Jarmusch, the Dixie Chicks, Robert Smith of the Cure and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. They will decide who joins the Shortlist’s past winners: Sigur Ros, N.E.R.D. and Damien Rice.

Why does the world need the Shortlist? Sarig says the award and nominees list serve as filter, not filler.

Acts that have sold more than 500,000 copies of their nominated work are not eligible, so last year when the Grammys and others were honoring OutKast, that acclaimed act was not in the Shortlist mix. “They’re great, but do they need another award? We’re looking to help acts build audiences and give attention to people who are not getting attention at radio and other outlets.” And it’s not a rookie of the year prize -- Lynn, for instance, got snubbed recently in nominations by the Country Music Awards, but here there’s room for her.

The winner of the 2004 list will be announced at an all-star show at the Wiltern LG in November.

For all nominees and programming, check www.theshortlist.com.

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-- Geoff Boucher