RISING STAR AWARD WITH AMAZON MUSIC
Entries OpenThe Rising Star Award with Amazon Music champions Britain and Ireland’s most promising songwriting talents.
Each songwriter receives an Ivor Novello Award nomination and tailored year-long support for their creativity and careers from Amazon Music and The Ivors Academy.
The Rising Star Award has been won by Master Peace, Victoria Canal, Naomi Kimpenu, Willow Kayne, and Mysie.
Entries are open for the Rising Star Award 2025
There is no fee to enter the Rising Star Award, applicants must be aged 18–24, British, Irish, or UK residents in 2024 and members of The Ivors Academy. If you’re under 25 you can join as an Early Career member at a discounted rate.
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BLAIR DAVIE
Honesty may be in short supply in the modern world, but lyrical truth has set Blair Davie free. Blair spent their youth in rock bands but since going solo, they’ve mined a rich seam of supremely candid self-expression. No wonder vulnerable songs such as Stairs and Right Love Wrong Time have made Blair one of 2024’s most hotly tipped singer-songwriters and won over fans including Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Proof that, when it comes to songwriting, honesty is always the best policy.
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CHRISSI
Meet the new queen of heartbreak. Since emerging from Essex in 2021 with her Back In The Day EP, Chrissi has built an enviable reputation for combining emotionally raw lyrics with irresistible melodies, on songs such as Stupid Little Girl and Love Me In Chapters. From a talented musical family (her older brother is Mercury-nominated rapper Berwyn), she’s already collaborated with – and been championed by – Rachel Chinouriri. And you can be sure that Chrissi’s sad songs will be making listeners happy for years to come.
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ELMIENE
If a rising star can be judged by the company he keeps, then Elmiene is destined for truly great things. The soulful singer-songwriter has already collaborated with Stormzy, Sampha and James Vincent McMorrow, while Louis Vuitton used Elmiene’s song Golden to soundtrack one of its shows. And you can expect the Oxford native to attract plenty of other admirers too, as refreshingly modern R&B tracks such as Someday and Remember will surely become good friends to anyone who appreciates top quality songwriting.
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MASTER PEACE - WINNER
You can’t call yourself Master Peace without backing it up and – rest assured – Peace Okezie’s songwriting lives up to its billing. His music is an eclectic grab bag of influences – from funk to punk, grime to indie rock – while Peace’s boundless energy and the unfiltered lyrics on anthems such as I Might Be Fake and Shangaladang have helped him win over a whole Peace Corps of devotees, including The Streets’ Mike Skinner. No wonder the world is now waiting for a career full of Master Peace masterpieces.
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NINO SLG
Nino SLG is brewing up something special. He grew up on gospel music, but makes hip-hop. His rapping is fierce but his lyrics are always poetic and socially conscious. And he is surely the only musician to ever be supported by both Stormzy – who dubbed him an artist to watch last year – and Twinings tea, which used Prison Walls on an ad campaign. And with consummately executed songs such as House Invasions and LSOM, expect Nino SLG to soon be everybody’s cup of tea.
