Premios Pulsar

The Premios Pulsar (Pulsar Awards) is an award ceremony presented annually by the Sociedad Chilena del Derecho de Autor (SCD) to recognize the best in Chilean music releases. It includes categories for albums, songs, music videos and music-related books and other publications.

The first awards ceremony was held on 25 July 2015, at Teatro Nescafé de las Artes in Santiago. Chilean television presented Ignacio Franzani served as host while La Red and Radio Cooperativa broadcast the ceremony on television and radio, respectively.

Background
The awards were created in 2015, intended to highlight musical releases in the country. The name comes from the "Feria Pulsar", an annual event organized by the Sociedad Chilena del Derecho de Autor that takes place in Santiago and includes activities such as concerts and music-related exhibitions.

Prior to the awards inception, the Altazor Awards were presented, from 2000 to 2014, to recognize the best in Chilean literature, visual arts, theater, dance, music, cinema and television. The Sociedad Chilena del Derecho de Autor were one of the institutions involved in said awards.

The winners and nominees are chosen by a set of juries that changes for each edition. The jury members range from musicians, journalists, producers, engineers, music video directors, art directors, among other professionals from the music industry. Winners and nominees for all the categories are selected by the juries except Artist of the Year, which is voted by the public through the awards website, and Most Played Song, which is determined through the statistics given by Chilean radio stations.

Trophy
The trophy was designed by Chilean sculptor Catalina Rojas and was named "El Aplauso" (The Clap). It was created through lost-wax casting and consists of two hands, one painted silver and the other gold. According to Rojas, it represents the connexion between the artist and the audience through the act of clapping while the different materials in the hands represent the need for diversity in music.

Categories
As of 2023, the following 26 categories are presented:

Current categories

 * Artist of the Year
 * Song of the Year
 * Album of the Year
 * Record of the Year (since 2022)
 * Best New Artist
 * Best Pop Artist
 * Best Rock Artist
 * Best Urban Music Artist
 * Best Metal Artist
 * Best Tropical Music and Ranchera Artist
 * Best Electronic Music Artist
 * Best Fusion Artist (since 2017; presented biannually since 2021)
 * Best Jazz Artist (since 2017; presented biannually since 2021)


 * Best Singer-Songwriter
 * Best Roots Music Artist
 * Best Children's' Music Artist (presented biannually)
 * Best Classical Music Artist
 * Best Record Producer (since 2016)
 * Instrumentalist of the Year
 * Best Visual Media Composer
 * Best Music Video
 * Best Cover Art (presented biannually)
 * Best Music-Related Book (presented biannually)
 * Dissemination of Music of the Indigenous Peoples Award (presented biannually)
 * SCD Award for Most Played Song
 * Special Award for Promotion of Chilean Music

Defunct categories

 * Best Tropical Music Artist (2015-2020)
 * Best Jazz Fusion Artist (2015-2016, 2018-2020)


 * Best Pop Ballad Artist (2015-2018)
 * Best Visual Media Related to Music (2015-2016)

Selected winners
The following table features the winners for the four main categories.