The Guardian critic and writer on music Tom Service has been shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) award for his two recent books Music as Alchemy, on the art of conducting; and Thomas Adès: Full of Noises, a volume of his conversations with the composer.

He is nominated alongside Classic FM and singer and author Jane Manning, for the award that recognises "creative communication" of classical music through books, broadcasting, art, the web and film.

The RPS awards are the most respected classical music awards, judged by performers, composers, curators and critics.

The Cultural Olympiad has cast a long shadow over many of the nominations for the 2013 awards.

Birmingham Opera Company's Mittwoch Aus Licht, for example, a rare performance of Stockhausen's work for a cast of hundreds, string quartet and helicopter is nominated in the opera category, alongside entries including Aldeburgh festival and the Barbican's acclaimed productions of Oliver Knussen's operas based on Maurice Sendak's books Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Piggelty Pop.

Gerald Barry's opera The Importance of Being Earnest, which was given its concert premiere last year at the Barbican ahead of its staged UK premiere this autumn at the Royal Opera House, is in the running for large-scale composition alongside Tansy Davies' piano concerto Nature for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

The opening concert of last year's London 2012 festival – given by the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela in the Stirling suburb of Raploch, the culmination of an intense programme of work in the community by music-education organisation Sistema Scotland – is nominated in the audience and participation category, up against The Universe of Sound, a virtual orchestra created by the Philharmonia Orchestra for the Science Museum.

Chair of the RPS John Gilhooly, the director of the Wigmore Hall, said: "There's a pervading sense of artistic optimism and determination that seems to belie the difficult times we live in. The commitment, talent and boldness reflected in music, whether in our finest concert halls and opera houses, or in our streets and communities, should make those who ask 'do the arts really matter?' think twice."

The full list of nominations can be seen on the RPS website.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 14 May.