The first winners of the EBU sponsored Music Moves Europe Talent Awards have been revealed.

Following the announcement of the 24 nominees in September, an international jury selected 12 winners, who represent the European sound of today and tomorrow.

The Music Moves Europe Talent Awards replace the European Border Breaker Awards. The prizes will be awarded at ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) in Groningen.

Additionally, the general public will select another winner from each category through the Public Choice Award through online voting, starting today. The Public Choice Award winners will be revealed at the award ceremony on Wednesday 16 January 2019.

The winners are:

Pop -  Bishop Briggs (UK) and Lxandra (Finland) 

Rock -  Pale Waves (UK) and Pip Blom (Netherlands) 

Electronic - Smerz (Norway) Stelartronic (Austria)

RnB/Urban - Rosalía (Spain) and Aya Nakamura (France)

Hip Hop/Rap - Blackwave (Belgium), Reykjavíkurdætur (Iceland)

Singer-songwriter - Avec (Austria) and Albin Lee Meldau (Sweden)

The Jury

The international jury for the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards consists of Huw Stephens (Presenter BBC Radio 1), Julia Gudzent (Festival Programmer Melt!), Katia Giampaolo (CEO Estragon Club Italy), Kristian Kostov (Winner EBBA + Public Choice Award 2018) and Wilbert Mutsaers (Head of Content, Spotify Benelux). Representing the organizing parties are Robert Meijerink (Booker ESNS) as the chairman of the Jury and Bjørn Pfarr (Booker Reeperbahn Festival) as the vice-chairman of the jury.

The Prize

The aim of the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards is to celebrate new and upcoming artists from Europe and support them in order to help them develop and accelerate their international careers. Therefore, the prize package consists of €5000 tour and promotion support, several performances at ESNS, free publicity and a tailor made training programme. Succeeding the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA), the annual Music Moves Europe Talent Awards are co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, with the additional support of the Municipality of Groningen, Province of Groningen and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The awards are presented by ESNS and Reeperbahn Festival, in cooperation with Yourope, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), International Music Managers Forum (IMMF), Liveurope, Live DMA, European Music Exporters Exchange (EMEE) and Digital Music Europe (DME).