The 2016 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Thursday 29 September 2016 at Vector Arena in Auckland, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. Five years later APRA revoked the 2016 Silver Scroll after recipient Thomas Oliver admitted assaulting a woman on the night of the awards.
The Silver Scroll award celebrates outstanding achievement in songwriting of original New Zealand pop music. The short list of finalists was announced on 1 September.
The Silver Scroll was awarded to Thomas Oliver. He is no longer recognised as the winner after APRA revoked the award in 2021. Oliver admitted that at an after-party on the night of a separate award ceremony in 2017, he assaulted a woman by grabbing her around the neck.
The music director for 2016 was musician and 2007 Silver Scroll nominee Sean James Donnelly. As well as overseeing all music performances, he was arranged for the five Silver Scroll finalists to be covered in a unique style by different artists.
In July 2016 a top 20 long list was announced. From this list APRA members voted to decide the five songs that will make up the year's short list.
Singer-songwriter Moana Maniapoto was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame at the Silver Scroll awards ceremony in September.
Six other awards were presented at the Silver Scroll Awards: APRA Maioha Award (for excellence in contemporary Maori music), SOUNZ Contemporary Award (for creativity and inspiration in composition), and APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award and APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award. The award for the most performed New Zealand song in New Zealand and overseas was dropped in 2016.
Outside of the Silver Scroll Awards, APRA presented six genre awards in 2016. The APRA Best Pacific Song was presented at the Pacific Music Awards, the APRA Best Country Music Song was presented at the New Zealand Country Music Awards, the APRA Best MÃÂori Songwriter will be presented at the Waiata Maori Music Awards and the APRA Children's Song of the Year and What Now Video of the Year will be presented live on What Now. For the first time in 2016, the award for Best Jazz Composition was awarded, presented at the National Jazz Festival.