Victoria and Albertine's silver jubilee

Jordan Luck is the first inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. Photo / Richard Robinson

There were two big winners at last night's APRA Silver Scroll - New Zealand's top songwriting award - and both have girls to thank for their inspiration.

Brooke Fraser's song Albertine, about an orphan girl from Rwanda, won this year's top prize at the ceremony at Auckland Town Hall.

The Syndey-based singer-songwriter wrote the song after meeting Albertine during a 2005 trip to Rwanda.

Meanwhile, former Dance Exponents frontman Jordan Luck, whose 1982 breakthrough hit was Victoria, became the first inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

Luck said last night: "I was sitting there hearing about this prestigious award and I thought I might nip in there in 2030 or something. Flip, I'm just a stunned mullet."

The second Hall of Fame member to be inducted will be the country's original rock'n'roll star, Johnny Devlin, when he receives the New Zealand Herald Legacy Award at the New Zealand Music Awards - or Tuis - on October 18. The Silver Scroll differs from the Tuis in that the songwriters belonging to APRA - the Australasian Performing Right Association - voted for the best song, whereas the music awards have the music industry picking the year's best recordings.

Fraser's song Deciphering Me, also off the Albertine album, won the most-performed song in New Zealand award. Once again, Neil Finn won the most-performed New Zealand song overseas for Crowded House's 1986 hit Don't Dream It's Over.

Last night's awards also included best Pacific song, won by Spacifix for Gotta Get Like This and best country song, which went to Barry Saunders of the Warratahs for Pale Sun.

The winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, for excellence in composition, went to Eve de Castro-Robinson's These Arms To Hold You, a rendition of a Bill Manhire poem. The APRA Maioha Award, for recordings in te reo, was won by Andrea Tunks and Pierre Tohe for Aio.