Tom Iansek and Joanna Syme of the indie pop duo Big Scary have taken won the top prize at the 9th annual Australian Music Prize for “Not Art” on Wednesday. Their win includes $30,000 winner’s check for beating out eight other acts for the prize.

They were announced as winners at the ceremony held in Sydney on Wednesday. They were shortlisted for the award, along with fellow contenders Jen Cloher (“In Blood Memory”), Dialectrix (“The Cold Light of Day”), Kirin J Callinan (“Embracism”), Beaches (“She Beats”), Horrowshow (“King Amongs Many”), Jagwar Ma (“Howling”), Cloud Control (“Dream Cave”), and Jimblah (“Phoenix”).

“You don’t start a band to win awards, you do it because you love it,” Iansek said during his award acceptance.

“THE AMP isn’t just another award. It honours this love of music and is voted on by music lovers.”

Syme added after their win, “We’re huge fans of AMP. Any award that has bands like The Mess Hall and Eddy Current Suppression Ring in its short history of winners has gotta be doing something right. That’s why it’s a huge honour to be awarded this year’s prize.”

Aside from The Mess Hall and Eddy Current Suppression Ring, the Melbourne pair joins past AMP winners The Drones, Augie March, Lisa Mitchell, and The Jezabels.

Hermitude won in 2013 for their album “HyperParadise.”

Big Scary released their first album “Vacation” in 2011. “Not Art” was released in 2013.