Most important of all, however, is the crucial ATL Local Acts of the Year list. This will require the most thought and reflection.

Every year, myself and the ATL production team (Paul, Amy and Warren) join ATL contributers (William, Orla et all), friends of ATL (Joe Lindsay, Donna Legge, Stuart Bailie) and a few other people associated with the show to pick our favourite Northern Irish acts of the year. As long as they've performed live and presented new music in the previous twelve months, they can be included. The list is always a subject of much debate on various forums and blogs, so we take it pretty serious.

This is how it ended up looking last December.

But who'll win this year? Well, if I was presenting odds (I shouldn't really, I'm terrible at maths, yet here I am) and y'all were able to bet on the outcome (you're not), this is the blog for you. Ahem.

DISCLAIMER: Truth is, I have no idea what to expect from this year's chart. With at least a dozen people voting, each with different taste and most of whom are rarely anywhere near the office, it's pretty much impossible to make a call. Needless to say, this is just a bit of fun...

So last year's winners And So I Watch You From Afar are my hot favourites. Incredible live shows, general good feeling off the back of 'Solidarity' and a mere handful of tracks was enough last year, but this time around you can add a debut album, a headline slot at Glasgowbury and a near sell-out Mandela Hall show. For a start.

Evens.

You should of course never write off '07 and '08 winners La Faro. A line-up change coupled with some increasingly aggressive (in a good way) live shows mean 2009 has been another good year for the lads - but without that many new recordings they're slight outsiders at 4/1.

Similarly Cashier No. 9 and Panama Kings have increased both fanbase and reputation - helped by memorable headline shows at the Empire and Mandela Hall respectively. Lets say 6/1 and 5/1 - though next year they could well be joint favourites.

What of General Fiasco? Well, it's been a year of development and memorable festival appearances for the youngest band in last year's top ten. Second favorites for me at 5/2. Again, with an album under their belts, next year they could well top the chart. Similarly Two Door Cinema Club, who've also received heavy rotation on ATL, are a good bet at 3/1, ahead of that debut album.

As for acts from last year's top twenty definitely not going to win - well, The Lowly Knights, The Jane Bradfords, and Kowalski should all be at 30/1ish (if not higher) with each act having laid very low.

Again - next year.

The Answer and In Case of Fire will, of course, feature highly, with both unleashing hugely impressive albums earlier this year. But, as the type of acts liable to top one person's chart and not feature at all on the next person's - they're slight outsiders, at 6/1. I think a lack of consistent points across the board may mean they'll have to make do with a top five finish.

Cutaways are worth an each-way bet at 8/1 - yet another act who've impressed with an album and some memorable shows, while relatively niche acts like The Japanese Popstars and Space Dimension Controller shouldn't expect to top the chart, but could do some damage to the top ten. The former are at 11/1 while the latter is at a slightly healthier 9/1 (simply because SDC is a 19 year-old bloke we'd barely heard of this time last year).

One act who just might break ASIWYFA's stranglehold on the top spot are a band who enjoy a similar respect from and friendship with pretty much the entire music scene in this country. They've improved with every gig and started to live up to their own hype while recording arguably the biggest NI anthem of 2009.

They're my real tip, at 7/2. 

A Plastic Rose - could this be your year?

(The ATL polls for 2009 will be published in the middle of December.)