London, 11th October 2022 The annual Drake YolanDa Awards are a series of cash prizes presented to emerging young musicians aged between 16-30, enabling them to showcase their talent and assist them in taking their careers to the next level.
Ten promising artists were awarded £3000 each, with ten additional runner up prizes of £500 each, intended to support each winners’ artistic development in areas including touring, artistic development, recording new music, music videos, marketing, branding and purchasing new equipment.
This Years’ judging panel of industry experts including Amy Lamé, Mayor of London’s Night Tsar, Joel Borquaye – Senior Editor Spotify London, Ben Lewis – CEO Young Voices have awarded the following artists with the prize (in no particular order):
JERUB
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2eG0Kf7mNIbn0SMiA2LjBd
Kymara
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0fpdyv56I16Z3FyGnN5xR7
Erica Manzoli
https://open.spotify.com/artist/23fOuvbhI889XOAcLhvaBJ
B-ahwe
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6kog2FnBdjoz5oc9EQvuXl
John Dhali
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3JY1Qv0DKkhwf5Q61s3R94
Renato Paris
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2FhZe3lAgsWO16l3ja1ntE
Finn Doherty
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2e3gFNiRxdNMh5TaVNwUHF
Ceitidh Mac
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6r6YPoX4hfknOTw0tV3mWb
Ana De Llor
https://open.spotify.com/artist/61DENukGlPQstYvSeroMfG
LOBA
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5zKGCJ2L1Udeb5vW77pTf6
The winners will be presented with their awards and perform live on 10th October at a celebration concert, taking place at Boisdale Of Canary Wharf in London attended by music professionals and media.
YolanDa Brown says: “For many artists, access to finance is always a big stumbling block to achieving their dreams. James and I are happy to support artists to move another step closer to making them a reality.”
YolanDa Brown is chair of the BPI (The British Phonographic Industry). The BPI is the representative voice for independent and major record labels in the UK. BPI organises the annualBRIT Awards with Mastercard show, The Mercury Music Prize with FreeNow for ‘Album Of The Year’ and the Classic BRIT awards show. BPI co-owned The Official Charts.
YolanDa is also an award winning musician and broadcaster. Her critically acclaimed CBeebies children’s TV show ‘YolanDa’s Band Jam’ won “Best Children’s Programme (Pre-school)” at the Royal Television Society. She is currently composing music for the iconic Sesame Street and an animated series due for release later this year.
A champion for the importance of music education, YolanDa is Chair of Youth Music (one of the largest music education charities in the UK), on the national council of the Arts Council, a trustee of PRS Foundation, an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and London Music Fund, a champion for the children’s mental health charity Place2Be.
The Department of Education and DCMS in 2021, invited YolanDa to sit on the advisory panel for the National Plan for Music Education, published in June2022 to positive response. “My dream is that EVERY child has access to music making and benefits from the joy that music emits. The NPME will in many ways support this; from the young child having their first musical experience, to the next generation of aspiring musicians who need to be inspired and motivated to pursue the plethora of career opportunities within the music industry.”
On BBC Radio 4, she co presents Loose Ends with Clive Anderson and covers for Trevor Nelson and Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio 2 and presents “YolanDa Brown on Saturday” on Jazz FM. YolanDa has presented the Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald Centenary Prom Live for BBC FOUR, Gospel Choir of the Year for BBC One, appeared on Celebrity Eggheads and Celebrity Mastermind on BBC TWO , the panel show Gareth Malone’s All Star Music Quiz on BBC TWO. BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year for BBC FOUR and Gospel Choir of the Year for BBC ONE.
James ‘JP’ Drake is the Founder and Chairman of The Future Science publishing group, a leading international publisher of academic papers, focusing on breakthrough medical, biotechnological and scientific research. In 2014 he launched The Drake Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation committed to improving evidence-based measures for the understanding of concussion injuries in sport, based on scientific research. In 2015, James JP Drake established The Drake Calleja Trust as part of his long-term philanthropy programme. The Drake Calleja Trust has awarded fifty-nine scholarships in total to exceptionally talented students of undergraduate, postgraduate and research level.
