What you should know about this year’s Boston Music Awards winners

The Boston Music Awards took over the Sinclair in Cambridge last week (Dec. 9 and 10), inviting 17 local acts to perform for the two-day event. The 28th annual ceremony honoring local musicians moved its locale to the restaurant-rock venue, changed its voting policy and adopted an invite-only policy for night one under its new ownership, welcomed changes for some attending honorees.

“I feel like the BMAs were opening up the nominating opening up the nominating committee was a huge step towards saying, ‘I hear you, I see you,'” said Pop Artist and Female Vocalist of the Year-winning artist Ruby Rose Fox.

This year’s BMA co-owners Paul Armstrong and Jake Brennan doubled the number of voters to a 400-member nomination committee and expanded celebration into a two-night affair to celebrate Hall of Fame winner Evan Dando of The Lemonheads.

“[We want to] celebrate the artists who work around the clock, 365 days a year,” said Armstrong, whose resume includes co-founder of Boston online music pubVanyaland and creative services director at the now-defunct radio station WFNX.

Additionally, moving toward a performance-centered program at a music venue, opposed to the hotels (Revere, The Liberty) of the past, changed the tone of the evening, putting the focus back on the music.

“It was very show-focused,” added 2014 BMA nominee and scene supporter Glenn di Benedetto. “You couldn’t really get away from the fact that these were really good acts.”

There were 29 awards given out that night, but here are five you can’t walk away without knowing.

Powerful vocals and bluesy rock ‘n roll define the nine-piece locals still hoping for a national breakout moment. Considering their spirited live show complete with three backup singers and carefully crafted pop songs, expect it to happen sooner than later.