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2024 APRA PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AWARDS
finalists announced!
Elsy Wameyo, CYRUS, Emma Greenhill, Becca Hatch and many more in the running for a share of $120,000 cash prize pool
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The finalists for the 2024 APRA PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARDS (PDAs) have been revealed today, showcasing a broad range of songwriting and composing talent across the categories of Popular Contemporary, Hip Hop/Rap/Soul/R&B, Classical/Experimental, Jazz/Improvised Music, Screen Composition, Country/Americana, Dance/
With profiles steadily on the rise, this year’s shortlist includes Kamilaroi-Samoan singer-songwriter and 2023 APRA Music Awards performer Becca Hatch (NATSIMO Youth), alt-country artist Imogen Grist (Babitha), screen and MadeBy composer Emma Greenhill, comedy duo Mel & Sam, electronic producer and DJ Mike Katz (Harvey Sutherland), jazz/experimental saxophonist Andrew Saragossi, evolutionary biologist and composer Victoria Pham, and more.
Held annually, the PDAs provide impactful support for emerging songwriters and composers – previous winners Gotye, Mo’Ju, Ecca Vandal, Melanie Dyer, Ngaiire, Gordi, Jem-Cassar Daley, Angeline Armstrong and Yirrmal have all benefited from this career-boosting initiative.
A panel of judges including Imogen Clark, Hau Latukefu, Kristy Gostelow, Sosefina Fuamoli, Ngaiire, Nina Las Vegas, Tim Levinson and more have determined this group of music creators who are in the running to each take home a career-changing cash prize of $10,000. A complete list of this year’s PDAs judges can be found here.
Back again in 2024 are the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO) categories: NATSIMO General, Youth and Senior, which support members’ creativity at different life stages. The NATSIMO PDAs provide three promising Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander music practitioners with a grant of $10,000 each.
Finalists include Brisbane’s Sachém (NATSIMO Youth); Yuwaalaraay musician and storyteller Warren Mason (NATSIMO Senior); and Yorta Yorta, Kalkadoon and Yirendali hip hop artist Kaninna Langford (Miss Kaninna) (NATSIMO General).
The winners of the APRA PDAs will be announced on Thursday 15 February 2024.
Without further ado, the finalists for the 2024 APRA PDAs:
Classical / Experimental
Fiona Hill
Grace Ferguson
Mark Holdsworth
Rebecca Bracewell
Victoria Pham
Country / Americana
Gretta Ziller
Imogen Grist (Babitha)
Raechel Whitchurch
Sara Berki
Taylor Moss
Dance / Electronic
Elle Shimada
Laura Lowther (KUČKA)
Mike Katz (Harvey Sutherland)
Nicole Michel-Millar
Nina Wilson (Ninajirachi)
Hip Hop / Rap / R&B / Soul
Elsy Wameyo
Milan Ring
Nardine Gharsa (Nardean)
Nkechinyere Anele (Nkechi Anele)
Thom Crawford
Jazz / Improvised
Andrew Saragossi
Cheryl Durongpisitkul
Sage Harlow (Sage Pbbbt)
Tom Avgenicos
Vanessa Perica
Music Theatre
Alec Steedman
Erin McKellar
Jennifer Trijo
Jude Perl
Mel & Sam
NATSIMO (General)
Jolene Lawrence (Ripple Effect Band)
Kaninna Langford (Miss Kaninna)
Kee’ahn Bindol
Nathan Bird (Birdz)
Nathan Lamont
NATSIMO (Youth)
Amelia Thompson (THOM)
Becca Hatch
Sachém Parkin-Owens (Sachém)
NATSIMO (Senior)
Lu Dulvarie (Suga Lu)
Russell Smith (BROLGA)
Warren Mason
Popular Contemporary
Aidan Hogg
Cyrus Villanueva (CYRUS)
Gena Rose Bruce
Georgia Hoareau
Hannah Cameron
Joe Mungovan
Nikkita Wright (Kita Alexander)
Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt (Merpire)
Romy Vager (RVG)
Samuel Gaskin
Screen Composition
Adrian Leung
Emma Greenhill
Harrison Wood
Michael Allen
Sean Tinnion
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Follow APRA AMCOS
Website – Instagram – Facebook – Spotify
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APRA AMCOS is a key business partner to Australasian music creators. We have 119,000 members who are songwriters, composers and music publishers. We license organisations to play, perform, copy or record our members’ music, and we distribute the royalties to our members.
As a world-leading organisation invested in the future of music, APRA AMCOS enables music creators and customers to maximise the value music brings to business and life. We achieve this through a simple and effective licensing framework, and providing holistic industry support – from education, to live music, export, creators’ rights advocacy and recognition through our high-profile awards and events program. apraamcos.com.au
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO) is an Indigenous-led initiative of APRA AMCOS and a peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music creators. We support the growth and development of songwriters and composers and advocate for a thriving, self-determined arm of the music industry. apraamcos.com.au/natsimo
The NATSIMO acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodians of country throughout Australia and pay our respects to them, their culture and their Elders past, present and future and also acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa New Zealand.
We acknowledge the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owners of country throughout Australia and pay our respects to them, their culture, and their Elders past and present. We also acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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AMNPLIFY – DB
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My nickname is “The Amnplifier”. Why? Because around here my focus is on being a conduit for providing greater outcomes that people come here for. My day to day “work” is living in the moment, and I love helping others concentrate on finding their connection to themselves through their experiences.
Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
Amnplify your experience. That is what we want you to do here, and if you want to let me know why you do, or don’t, shoot me a message on Facebook.
Hope you enjoy yourself here and find something that hits you somewhere.
