SAN DIEGO -- While there are many active music scenes in San Diego's local music community, taking in everything from rap to punk to jazz to bluegrass, the acoustic scene may be the largest, if only because there are so many venues available. Seemingly every independent coffeehouse in the county has at least one open mic night, and even bookstores are booking singer-songwriters to perform on weekend evenings.

Last year, local musician Will Edwards organized the San Diego HAT Awards, with "HAT" an acronym for Honoring Acoustic Talent. A total of 21 awards were handed out over three nights, with categories ranging from best male and female vocalists to best promoter.

Nominations are being accepted for this year's HAT Awards at sandiegohatawards.com. There are only 12 public categories this year, plus two categories that musicians can vote on -- artist of the year and album of the year. Awards will be handed out Oct. 27 at the Normal Heights Community Center, 4649 Hawley Blvd. in San Diego.

Nominations are being accepted at the HAT Web site through Oct. 15, with voting for the public categories after that.